<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>outlaws in the streets (beasts in the sheets) by rangerdanger985</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29133678">outlaws in the streets (beasts in the sheets)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/rangerdanger985/pseuds/rangerdanger985'>rangerdanger985</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>morston mytical series (insert catchy name here) [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Red Dead Redemption (Video Games)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Alternate Universe - Werewolf, M/M, Mythical Beings &amp; Creatures, Slow Build, Slow Burn, check notes for warnings, i guess, its gonna be long yall, just a lot of them</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 06:55:52</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>24,712</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29133678</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/rangerdanger985/pseuds/rangerdanger985</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>It wasn’t unusual for one of the members of the camp to lounge around in their furrier forms, especially when it came to uncle or the twins.</p><p>Hell, Dutch could even be occasionally seen lazing in his tent, ink-black fur sprinkled with sliver and large head resting on molly or more often Hosea’s lap. Uncle complained that his age made it hard to shift back, being 50 when he was bitten but it was just an excuse.</p><p>Even Sadie ran around in her furry fox form after she stopped mourning.</p><p>But the one that never showed his fuzzy side was Arthur Morgan.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>John Marston/Arthur Morgan</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>morston mytical series (insert catchy name here) [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2207922</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>113</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>First chapter is a bit blegh but I get into the swing of things by the middle of it.</p><p>warning for this chapter includes canon typical violence but that's it I believe.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It wasn’t unusual for one of the members of the camp to lounge around in their furrier forms, especially when it came to uncle or the twins.</p><p>Hell, Dutch could even be occasionally seen lazing in his tent, ink-black fur sprinkled with sliver and large head resting on molly or more often Hosea’s lap. Uncle complained that his age made it hard to shift back, being 50 when he was bitten but everyone knew it was just an excuse.</p><p>Even Sadie ran around in her furry fox form after she stopped mourning.</p><p>But the one that never showed his fuzzy side was Arthur Morgan. From what john knew the man was a born wolf, like Dutch, and so had more control over his shifting than the rest of the camp shifters, he got it from his old man who was apparently a bastard.</p><p>It wasn’t that he never changed, he just didn’t do it around the camp, they had all seen flashes of fur through the trees, too big to be a deer or the distant glow of blue eyes, but they never entered the camp.</p><p>Arthur preferred to stay in human form, even on the mountain where they all preferred their warmer furry forms, sparing the extra layers for other, more vulnerable members of the gang.</p><p>After being chased to Clemens point from their old camp of horseshoe overlook by myth hunters they settled more firmly, they were further south than they wanted to be but they were safe enough even though the nearest town of Rhodes was less than friendly toward them, obvious by the fact that they had come through just in time to see the bodies of both a shifter and a vampire strung up in a tree at the edge of town.</p><p>Little jack hadn’t understood what they did wrong, but he wouldn’t after all, despite being human his aunts and uncles were all others, not even john could explain it.</p><p>Now john and Arthur had a tense relationship and it wasn’t because their kind hated each other, vampires and werewolves had buried that hatchet centuries ago before the war, and it wasn’t because Arthur's not quite mate and pup were murdered by vampires because John had been the first and only person able to comfort the grieving creature when he returned to camp.</p><p>No, John was pretty sure it was because of his year-long absence. Mostly because of Abigail, she joined the gang 8 years prior and like a couple of the other girls found herself in a different bed every few nights.</p><p>Including John's, although not in that way, they never slept together even though she obviously wanted to, rather she said he made her feel safe, especially after she fell pregnant.</p><p>John was assumed to be the father, even though the chance of conception with vampires was astronomically low, and she didn’t help matters by refusing to deny the claims. During this time Arthur got distant, even growling when john claimed to not be the father.</p><p>Just before the birth john was pushed past his limit, the looks and disappointed glances, the general air of disapproval everyone had for him, the feeling of being trapped by his own damned kindness, so he left, traveling for a while he tried to return after a few months but the camp had been moved. It took him nearly eight months to track them down again and when he finally did just outside of blackwater Arthur beat his ass something fierce.</p><p>Hosea, while tending to johns injuries, informed him that the baby wasn’t a vampire and was also healthy, not holding any of johns scent and Abigail had finally admitted the truth a couple of months prior, that she never slept with john and didn’t know who jacks father was.</p><p>The older vampire understood why john left just like Dutch who made a point of apologizing for not believing john and most of the gang, especially Abigail, were cautious of him, refusing to look him in the eye which was its own kind of hell.</p><p>But Arthur seemed to be holding a grudge even openly growling at john a few times.</p><p>Dutch tried to explain it as the man seeing john as betraying and abandoning the pack with his running away, but John wasn’t so sure.</p><p>Their close relationship was destroyed, and it didn’t start to recover until colter, Arthur, and Javier tracking him down after his face was ripped open by wolves that fled at Arthur's roar. John didn’t remember much of it, just that he was put on Arthur's horse, pressed to the man’s chest and he never knew Arthur was so very warm.</p><p>Vampires had issues with retaining heat, cursed with something called anemia that apparently meant they didn’t produce their own red blood cells. He needed rest and a drink but, at that moment, he would have given both up to stay tucked in Arthur's chest.</p><p>After that, he started acting civil again, but it still wasn’t the best, he didn’t think they’d ever be the way they used to be, best friends maybe something more.</p><p>At least that’s what he thought before he and Arthur were cornered by Cornwall’s men, the worst gang of hunters in the area, the Pinkertons were worse than even the o’driscoles and those fuckers were a bunch of savage shifters.</p><p>The fuckers had them pinned down behind some stones and tree trunks and the wagon of some poor fucker they had been talking to. He was dead along with his horse and the Pinkertons had scared off old boy and Arthur's Nakota Balu. They kept firing even when john was nearly out of ammunition having only his revolver as his rifle was still on old boy’s saddle.</p><p>He ducked behind cover to reload, distracted for a moment until a shadow fell over him “john!” Arthur's shout had him jolting to the side, receiving a shotgun blast to the shoulder rather than his skull.</p><p>The shoulder full of buckshot hurt like fuck but he still aimed and fired, killing the bastard that snuck up on him, leaving him with far too few bullets.</p><p>John looked over at Arthur who was staring at him and deep down john had a feeling that neither of them would make it out of this alive, that they would be the next set of bodies hanging from a thin rope to warn away others of their kind.</p><p>While looking john saw another Pinkerton behind Arthur “watch out!” he called and Arthur spun and got knifed for his troubles, the blade sinking into his side rather than his back.</p><p>He and the Pinkerton tumbled down a shallow ravine and out of john’s line of sight, leaving the vampire pinned and panicking. They would die here, have their corpses strung up with their heads sent as warnings to the rest of the gang but he wouldn’t go down without a fight.</p><p>Checking his gun, he closed his eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath to calm himself before rising to his feet and lifting the gun. Three Pinkertons fell dead, heads exploding, two more dove for cover only to have their throats pierced and johns sixth and final shot missed its mark, hitting the shoulder of a mounted hunter rather than the spine but it didn’t matter as suddenly something huge lept into the remaining four figures, large and angry, the hair-covered creature tore them apart before spinning on john.</p><p>Blue was all he saw for a moment before a bullet grazed his ear and the blue spoke “move your ass Marston!” the figure, a huge wolf turned and john ran for it, leaping onto its back moments before it, in turn, lept forward.</p><p>“Arthur?!” he demanded but the creature just growled, ribs vibrating between john’s knees “shoot you bastard” the deep voice was Arthur's alright.</p><p>Trusting his legs to hold his balance he twisted at the waist and aimed at the Pinkertons behind them, shooting one off their horse and causing the other to start bucking.</p><p>While running the wolf that was Arthur howled and his balu shrieked in reply, coming running with old boy’s reigns in her mouth “how did you teach them that” john questioned but Arthur just grunted.</p><p>They had been hunting in big valley when the Pinkertons found them, and John could tell that Arthur was aiming for Wallace station and valentine just beyond that.</p><p>Valentine was largely populated by others, a safe haven from hunters their species desperately needed, but as they approached little creek river things went wrong. The rapid-fire of a machine gun could be heard from a wagon at the entrance of a road and Balu already flighty shrieked again before running off even though old boy follow them.</p><p>Arthur yowled and changed direction while john used his last bullet, something he always saved for himself, on the gunner, allowing them to be out of range before another could take command of the gun.</p><p>Arthur grunted with exertion not unlike a horse as he ran, the Pinkertons followed but faltered at the first flakes of snow, Arthur's sweat-soaked into the legs of johns pants where he held onto his sides as the beast kept moving, even as the wind started to whistle and howl and snow built up around them.</p><p>He didn’t stop until they reached a frozen lake, a cabin neatly tucked between some pines and the side of a mountain slope, a hunting cabin.</p><p>a safe haven.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>tw for this chapter include blood-drinking and naked cuddling</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Arthur came to a stop outside of the cabin, body shaking with his panting, and john lept from his back, reaching out to old boy who was snorting and dancing, the horse calmed with a firm pat and john retrieved his rifle from his holster “I’ll check the cabin” he said as he moved towards the front door, receiving no response not that he expected one. The door was unlocked but the cabin looked abandoned, the fireplace was cold, and the thin cot was stripped.</p><p>It was a single room cabin, not large by any means but big enough for two people to hide and the roof wasn’t falling in so it was better than he could have hoped.</p><p>Squealing from outside had john rushing out gun first but in the growing twilight he didn’t see any danger nor hear any, but old boy was dancing in place again, this time next to a lump in the snow.</p><p>Arthur had collapsed.</p><p>Shouldering his gun john rushed forward kneeling beside the fur-covered figure, his hand landed on the wolf's ribs and came away wet, looking at his palm he realized it hadn’t been sweat that soaked his pants, but blood, it covered the side of Arthur's furry body.</p><p>“Arthur?” john questioned but got no reply, only the puffs of foggy breath told him he wasn’t alone in that godforsaken wasteland.</p><p>John cursed and reached down, grunting as he lifted the front half of Arthur's large and heavy body onto his back. He more drug than carried the wolf to the cabin, the door of which they barely fit through, but he managed.</p><p>The small cabin was tight with the wolf sprawled on the floor but shoving the bed into a corner and some crates out of the way made it bearable.</p><p>Reaching for a pile of cut logs he quickly got a fire going, habitually checking the chimney to see if anything had been stashed there before lighting the logs.</p><p>Before he could tend to either of their wounds he needed to get old boys saddle, the Hungarian half-blood would be fine outside for the night, would probably even enjoy it, but john needed the saddle and supplies packed in it, specifically the ammo.</p><p>Old boy had made himself comfortable alongside the cabin where the building and trees provided a natural windbreak and barely flicked a grumpy ear at john as he went about removing the heavy saddle.</p><p>It usually wasn’t that heavy to john who was naturally strong because of his species, however, john currently had a shoulder full of buckshot so it was a bit difficult carrying it into the cabin, however, he managed and dropped it onto the cot before digging out some water and a bandana, not turning towards where Arthur laid until he had the items in hand.</p><p>Five bullets had hit Arthur, blood staining his shaggy coat, one had traveled through the wolf's shoulder, one sliced over his hip, one had lodged into his ribs with another one right below it and the fifth had apparently bounced off one of his ribs.</p><p>Two of the five bullets remained, and john frowned, knowing he had to pull them out so the injuries could close which the others were already in the slow process of doing.</p><p>Grabbing the knife from its sheath on the back of his belt he looked at the sharp thin blade and sighed before looking at the wolf's closed eyes “don’t eat the other side of my face” he muttered before hunching over the injuries, pushing thick fur out of the way.</p><p>The next few minutes were tense as he dug the bullets out with the blade and listened to Arthur's whimpers of pain. It hurt his heart to hear the high breathy sounds but after they were out he felt only anger because the bullets gleamed silver under their coating of red, fucking silver bullets, he threw them into the fire in disgust and picked up the bandana to clean the old and new blood from the fur.</p><p>As he did, he listened to Arthur's breathing return to normal, his rapid-fire heart slowing down.</p><p>John had never seen the man as a wolf and honestly, he was speechless, Arthur was stunning, 8ft in length and as tall as a horse, Arthur's fur was shaggy and in the firelight it was a dark golden brown color, paler around the muzzle and belly, the same color as Arthur's hair in the sunlight and as he combed his fingers through it he found the hair soft and thick and warm.</p><p>He was always so warm, it was comforting.</p><p>Sighing he turned away, sitting back against the wolf he slowly shrugged out of his clothing, his grey jacket covered in blood and torn at the shoulder, his black shirt ripped, and his red union suit stuck unpleasantly to his skin. His body had pushed out most of the buckshot on its own with john only needing to pull a few pellets from the muscle before laying the bandanna against his shoulder, holding it there with a hissy sigh of pain.</p><p>Even though the fire kept the cabin warm and he sat in front of it, he still started to shiver after a few minutes of being shirtless, his pale skin twitching to generate warmth.</p><p>It reminded him far too much of colter which was barely a day’s ride from their location, he thought he got over it but memories of that damned mountain were creeping up on him, of the beasts and the snow, the frigidness of his body as it lost blood it couldn’t replace and the fire of the injury on his face.</p><p>Suddenly soft fur was surrounding him, Arthur's body shifting to pull john further into the warmth of his side.</p><p>John looked down and met nearly human blue/green eyes as they blinked open “your bleeding” Arthur said quietly, and John felt his lips twitch as warmth soaked into him “so are you” he said</p><p>Arthur closed his eyes, laying his head onto the floor by johns hip “it’s mostly stopped” he said and john hummed reaching out without thinking to lay his hand between twitching ears, making them twitch in his direction “never seen ya like this before” he said making the wolf snort “I don’t flaunt it” he muttered before shifting his head closer to john as he started scratching out of habit.</p><p>“it’s amazing” Arthur froze, barely seemed to breathe while his heart sped back up in his chest “ain’t nothin special bout me” he muttered after a minute and john frowned “nah, you're different, I ain’t never seen no wolf a big as you, your even taller than Dutch, your coats thicker too and you're warm”</p><p>Arthur shifted slightly, lifting his head which rose slightly above John's slumping figure, he was looking at the wall rather than at john “we're all warm” he muttered, a soft growl emanating from his throat.</p><p>John leaned to the side, leaning against a soft and warm shoulder, soaking up the heat as his mind grew fuzzy “nah” he repeated, feeling weak “your warmer” he muttered while lowering his head, leaning his forehead against Arthur's ruff.</p><p>The wolf vibrated slightly, obviously saying something, but John didn’t hear what it was, his eyes had slipping closed. He was so tired, he just needed to rest for a minute, take in some more of Arthur's heat.</p><p>His body sagged to the floor even as Arthur called his name.</p><p> </p><p>~</p><p>Warm.</p><p>He was so very warm.</p><p>Almost hot.</p><p>John opened his eyes slowly, a fire flickered in front of him, crackling happily but its warmth seemed distant, the heat that surrounded him didn’t originate from there, it was closer, behind him?</p><p>His sluggish brain couldn’t quite put the pieces together.</p><p>Something vibrated against his back, warm air hitting the side of his face, something warm and heavy laid on his side, comforting in its steadiness and he closed his eyes again.</p><p>He needed rest, he needed warmth, he needed.</p><p>He needed to open his eyes.</p><p>Something warm and rough touched his face, a hand, it turned his head and warm air, someone’s breath brushed against his face again.</p><p>He needed to open his eyes.</p><p>He needed to listen.</p><p>“Marston?” the voice was distant like he was listening through layers upon layers of ice “open your eyes, John” the voice was closer, softer, the warmth at his back hovered over him now and something.</p><p>Something smelled good.</p><p>His mouth watered at the lingering scent permeating the air, clinging to the warmth that surrounded him, he wanted it.</p><p>He wanted to taste it.</p><p>Suddenly finding strength he opened his eyes, saw a figure hovering over himself, blonde hair and a worry lined face, blue eyes with a ring of green in the center, glowing faintly in the flickering shadows cast by the fire.</p><p>John couldn’t quite recognize the man even though he knew him, knew his face and the scent of him but he couldn’t think beyond the red haze that was filling his mind.</p><p>Without thought he was suddenly moving, hand landing on the man’s shoulder and shoving him, first off of john and then onto the floor. With his other hand, he snatched the wrist of the hand on his face and held it, staring down at the man while planting his knee onto his chest.</p><p>His hair fell forward into his eyes but he didn’t move to get it out of the way, he could see something like anger in the blonde man’s eyes, watched his lips curl into a snarl “what the fucks gotten into ya Marston?” he demanded but John paid no attention to his words.</p><p>Johns lips parted, a sort of breathy hiss leaving his throat and he saw the man’s eyes go wide “shit” he cursed. Before john lunged forward, the man brought up his other arm, protecting his face but that wasn’t what john was aiming for. Shoving the appendage out of the way he buried his face into the side of the man’s neck, inhaling the scent of sweat and damp earth.</p><p>Copper clung to his skin even if there was no visible traces and it made the red haze in John's mind grow thicker. He opened his mouth, felt razor-sharp incisors sinking down from his gums but before he could sink in and taste that copper that smelled so wonderful the blonde moved again.</p><p>The arm that he had shoved away reached up, taking a hand full of his dark hair, and yanked, retching john from his place and back far enough to see the anger in glowing blue eyes, blunt teeth having sharpened into fangs.</p><p>The haze told him to be careful, that this creature was just as strong if not stronger than him, had a nature as wild as the deep forests. Lips moved but John couldn’t make sense of the sounds coming from the blonde’s throat, could only hiss again.</p><p>The blonde's other arm broke free of his grasp and rose, and john seeing the opportunity lunged forward even as the blonde's fingers pulled his hair painfully, gaping mouth and razor-sharp fangs locked onto a tanned forearm, making the blonde curse and snarl but john didn’t care.</p><p>Copper flowed freely into his mouth, his eyes closed at the taste, at the warmth that flowed down his throat like a thick stew. It eased the frigidness of his body, soothed the aches in his bones and slowed his rapid heart, he hadn’t known it had been so long since he’d drank, he could sustain himself on human food, often did, and it was rare for the red haze to permeate his mind as it was now.</p><p>Not since he was just a boy, with a deep thirst gnawing away at his body and a rope, too tight around his throat. As he drank the haze lifted, the cotton leaving his brain and allowing him to think, to feel the warmth that surrounded him was that of another body.</p><p>The scent of sweat and damp earth was familiar to him, one he had known for years but he couldn’t yet put a name to it. As the haze left him, he felt his fangs receding, letting the injury bleed freely. He felt the puncture wounds slowly start to close under his tongue and slowly opened his eyes in confusion.</p><p>If he wasn’t truly dead, as so many humans claimed, he was sure he was about to be as the blonde came into focus and recognition hit him like a bull elk.</p><p>Arthur Morgan.</p><p>He was drinking from Arthur fucking Morgan who was looking straight at him with furrowed brows and thin lips, blue eyes boring holes into john’s skull as he was sure that man wished he could do with his pistol.</p><p>Slowly he removed his mouth from the man’s arm, seeing the bruises that were forming on his wrist from John's earlier hold and the discolored skin where he had been sucking.</p><p>He was probably going to die.</p><p>“Shit” he felt himself say, his voice horse and Arthur rose a brow, lips twisting down at one corner “you done?” he grunted, and all john could do was nod.</p><p>He felt the chest under his hands vibrate, most likely with a growl “you better?” he asked and john paused, felt the warmth in his belly chasing out the chill that had haunted him just a short time ago and he nodded again.</p><p>“You gonna gnaw on me again?” this time he shook his head rather than nodded and something almost like amusement flashed in Arthur's eyes “good” he rumbled and then he was turning.</p><p>Arthur rolled john onto his side facing the fire and draped himself over his back like a warm blanket, thick arm curling around John’s side, the position they had been in when john woke up.</p><p>Finally able to focus, he found it was actually rather comfortable, the warmth of the fire in front of him and the heat of Arthur's body behind him, the warmth made his drowsy and helped him ignore the pain in his shoulder.</p><p>Vampires were hardy and strong but unlike werewolves they didn’t heal at an expediated rate, the bleeding had stopped but it was going to hurt like fuck for the next week or so. He didn’t really want to think about that though, just the same as he didn’t want to think about how Arthur had still yet to maul him for drinking from him.</p><p>Without permission of all things, that was what was going to bother john for a while more than anything else, he always got permission from those he drank from, it was what separated him from his father.</p><p>A rumble from his back made him freeze, staring at the fire as a stubbled cheek pressed against his own and rubbed “stop thinking” Arthur growled “we need to move early” john swallowed and nodded, expecting Arthur to shift away but he didn’t, the larger man huffed, shifting around to drape more fully over johns back before settling.</p><p>Johns hearing narrowed in on the older man’s breathing, the gentle beating of his heart over the crackling of the fire, he both listened and felt as the man’s breathing slowed as he fell asleep.</p><p>The gentle puffs of warm air and the heat of his body encouraging john to close his eyes, to match his breathing with the man's, and before he knew it, he too surrendered to sleep.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>TW: none.</p><p>figured id start adding the info on the players in this story so here we go, starting with the main wolf himself.</p><p>Arthur Morgan.<br/>	38, werewolf.<br/>	Born wolf from the north, never specifies where (most likely Montana mountain range), father was a lone wolf and while he might have once tried to be a father the loss of his mate made him go insane/ become abusive, ie. become a monster.<br/>	Has a blonde coat that lightens on the belly and neck, thick fur hints at his place of birth, and he has a dislike of showing himself to the rest of the gang for undisclosed reasons.<br/>	Is the actual largest wolf in the gang and his eyes glow blue in his other form.</p><p>I will be adding one to each chapter from now on so keep an eye out for that =)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>John blinked awake when a wave of cold air rushed up his back, making him shiver and blink as the warmth at his back receded, crinkling his nose he pushed himself up on an elbow before realizing it was a bad idea as he was still injured.</p><p>Flinching and grinding his teeth he lowered himself back down and instead rolled onto his back, feeling the lingering warmth that wasn’t his own against his back and making him realize that he was still shirtless.</p><p>Grumbling he caught movement from the corner of his eye and turned just in time to see tanned skin ripple into fur, golden shaggy hair covering a crouching form that shook itself out, a tail flicking to the side and long legs stretching out, massive paws flexing and claws leaving gentle indentations in the wood.</p><p>“Arthur?” he questioned and a shaggy head turned towards him, ears tipping forward and eyes blinking almost in surprise, an expression he was sure they both shared before Arthur shook his head and moved back towards him “sorry” he rumbled, mouth twitching on one side in the wolf equivalent of a smirk “it was getting a bit too cold for me”</p><p>John was surprised when the large wolf lowered himself to the ground and that massive head came to rest on his chest, warm and just shy of being too heavy. John grunted at the weight but didn’t complain “didn’t think you got cold” he muttered staring up at the ceiling.</p><p>Arthur snorted, breath washing over his chest “you try sleepin buck naked on the floor, ya catch a draft real quick” heat flooded to johns face at the others words not because the man had been naked and still technically was, hell living on the run didn’t offer no sort of privacy and he’d seen the older naked before.</p><p>What did it was the knowledge that he’d been cuddled up to john naked, acting like a blanket by choice, even after john bit him, drank without a care of who it was.</p><p>Before he could dive too far into that rabbit hole Arthur lifted his head, sniffing at his chest “you started bleeding again” john could smell it, frowning in annoyance before letting out a surprised hiss as a rough tongue lapped at the sluggishly bleeding wound.</p><p>“ow” he complained, mostly just to complain as it actually made his injury hurt less “you’re alright” Arthur drawled, words colored with amusement before giving a final swipe of his tongue and pulled away, laying his head back on johns chest.</p><p>Without thinking he lifted his hand, sinking his fingers into the fur behind the wolf's ear, and heard the creature exhale, leaning his head into john’s touch.</p><p>It was kind of precious.</p><p>It pulled up old memories, long-buried, of the twins roughhousing in their wolf forms, stirring up dust and always ending with some sort of bleeding wound on the both of them.</p><p>When they tuckered themselves out, they would collapse where they stood, usually on top of each other, and start licking each other’s ears, the various scrapes they had, and whining like a couple of pups.</p><p>Dutch and Hosea would usually laugh at them, Susan would threaten them to stop roughhousing around the camp and making such a mess but her usual harsh words were always tented with amusement.</p><p>The twins were interesting wolves, what with Davey being pale blonde and mac being a brunet. Since they had fled blackwater the boys hadn’t been the same and not just because they had both been injured mac barely escaping the Pinkertons and catching up with them before falling at his brother’s side and refusing to move.</p><p>Shaking his head john stared at the roof and the cobwebs that decorated the supports “think they’re tracked us?” he found himself questioning making Arthur grunt “no, and if they did, well, they’d never see me coming” he growled.</p><p>“ya sure?” john questioned tilting his head to eye Arthur's large form “y’er kinda hard to miss” Arthur snorted and rolled his eyes “I was born in the north boah, I can hunt in the snow, them Pinkertons ain’t as lucky”</p><p>John hummed “that why you didn’t shift in colter, cause you was used to the cold?” Arthur when quiet and lifted his head looking at the fire “something like that” he drawled quietly and John looked at him in curiosity, lifting a brow and nudging his furry shoulder with the hand that had been scratching behind his ears.</p><p>“ya gonna tell me?” he questioned making the beast sigh “I didn’t want the gang ta see me like this” john snorted and reached up digging his fingers into the shaggy fur on the wolf's jaw “like what? Soft?”</p><p>Arthur reared his head back and faced john, lips pulling from his teeth in a snarl “like some mindless beast”</p><p>John rolled his eyes and reached up to push at the wolfs muzzle “put those away Arthur, don’t nobody see ya like that, not when yous been the one keepin most of them fed and clothed for the better part of a year”</p><p>The wolf stared at him, teeth back covered and eyes wide, struck speechless by John's honesty, or perhaps it was his blatant lack of fear of the sharp fangs less than a foot from his throat, fangs he had seen rip open a man’s throat only the day before.</p><p>Yeah, that was probably it, Arthur most likely wasn’t speechless so much as surprised by john’s lack of self-preservation skills.</p><p>Again.</p><p>“sides” he started when it had been silent a little too long “only mindless beast round camp is bill and ya don’t see nobody treating him any different” Arthur snorted, surprised by that, and stood up.</p><p>John kind of missed his warmth as he turned away.</p><p>“put yourself together boah” the wolf drawled “we need to find my horse” john, taking note of his earlier attempt to sit up, used his good arm to push himself up. It still stung but it didn’t hurt as bad if he kept his other arm held to his chest, trying his best not to move the shoulder.</p><p>Arthur had slipped out of the door into the weak early morning light, giving john a moment to put himself to right which he appreciated as he dug into his saddlebags, finding some bandages so he could wrap his wound and hopefully prevent it from sticking to his clothing again.</p><p>Speaking of, his union suit would survive, it was red anyway and would just need some stitching along with his black shirt, but his jacket would most likely need to be replaced since the blood had dried on the fabric.</p><p>Which was unfortunate as it was his favorite jacket.</p><p>Turning back he pulled his warm jacket, something he always kept packed away on his saddle, and put it on, shoving his bloody grey jacket into its place before standing up, taking a moment to make sure he’d be able to keep his feet before gathering up his saddle, wincing at the weight of it, and walking out of the door.</p><p>Arthur was actually sitting beside the porch, fur ruffling slightly in the wind, and old boy was sniffing at him, it could never be said that johns horse was stupid, mischievous yes, but not stupid, but he was obviously confused because this wolf smelled like one of the humans he knew.</p><p>However, he was distracted by john’s appearance, tossing his head, and snorting as john put the saddle back on his back.</p><p>“oh, shut up you grumpy beast” he said fondly, patting the horse’s shoulder before strapping the saddle into place. Once it was on and he made sure old boy wasn’t expanding his gut to let the cinch strap hang loose he dug out a peppermint from the saddlebags and held it out to the beast who almost delicately took it from his palm before crunching down on it.</p><p>Arthur watched all of this with something like amusement which john caught from the corner of his eye “shut up” he said before swinging into the saddle “didn’t say a word johnny” the wolf said, amused as he stood up and shook the snow from his fur.</p><p>“yeah well, ya didn’t have to” he muttered, shifting his shoulder, and wincing before relaxing in his seat “so where the hell do you think your horse got off to?” Arthur started walking, almost trotting making old boy trot to keep up with him.</p><p>John didn’t think he was going to answer the question until the beast glanced back “most likely to them stables at valentine, she wouldn’t stay in the open and she knows the town”</p><p>John hummed “how the hell did you train your horse Morgan? And how’d you train my horse when I wasn’t lookin?” the wolf chuckled “I was the one that caught old boy remember john? I’m good with horses”</p><p>With a snort old boy tossed his head as if in agreement “don’t encourage him” he said to the horse and heard Arthur chuckle again.</p><p>Silence fell between them as Arthur's strides lengthened to an easy lope and old boy stayed on his tail almost without johns guidance, he felt slightly betrayed that his horse apparently liked Arthur more than him but it was as the werewolf had stated, he’d found and broken the horse for john.</p><p>Or he’d found and broken the horse and john took a shine to him.</p><p>“one of these days, I’ll tame one on my own and when ya just gotta have it I’d make sure it always loves me better” the wolf snorted at his threat “then why ain’t ya yet?” he challenged and John glanced down at his saddle horn.</p><p>It wasn’t like he needed to watch the path anyway, old boy stepped perfectly in the paces that Arthur left with his long legs and large paws.</p><p>“most ain’t too fond of me, think it’s the smell”</p><p>“well if ya’d take a bath once in a while” john wanted to throw something at the wolf who had turned his head back to smirk at him but he didn’t have anything on hand, he might have also not wanted to make the wolf lose his footing “the blood asshole”</p><p>The wolf hummed, looking forward again and slowing to pick his way over a bit of treacherous snow “I ain’t never smelt it on ya” he said as if not thinking about it and now john smirked “spend a lot of time going round sniffing me Morgan?” he asked and saw the wolfs ears lay flat, head lowering.</p><p>If he’d been human john knew the man would have ducked his head and grumbled “we got a way to go” he changed the subject quickly “let's get a move on Marston” and he sped into an easy run making john laugh “let's go boy” he kicked old boys sides and the beast snorted before jumping forward to keep up with the wolf.</p><p>John distantly thought it was good that the man’s coat matched his hair, any paler and he wouldn’t be able to see the bastard.</p><p>For about an hour everything was silent, they were just passing a landmark he vaguely recognized seeing from the back of the wagon he’d be loaded into when they moved camps when the wolf slowed to lope at old boys side “it ain’t the blood” John looked at the wolf whose head came to old boys shoulder.</p><p>“huh?” the beast glanced up “horses ain’t not fond of ya cause of yer smell, its yer presence” he was going back to their earlier conversation.</p><p>Since he was no longer leading john turned his face forward, watching the snowy path “how do you mean?” he questioned and heard a snort, sure the beast rolled his eyes “they can tell your dangerous, s’why humans shy away from ya too”</p><p>John hummed, thinking back to his most recent trip to Rhodes and the way the residents eyed him, he’d just thought it was because of his scars or the poker hands he had won, thinking back it made sense.</p><p>But at the same time, it didn’t because Arthur could charm the pants off anyone he met if he had the mind to, Hosea was older than john himself and he had the sharpest tongue of anyone aside from Trelawny and that was only because Trelawny was one of them fair folk.</p><p>“you're more of a threat than I am, yer stronger, faster, hell your only real weakness is silver! So, how’s ya explain that one?”</p><p>Slowing to a stop the wolf lifted his head to meet John's gaze and john both saw and felt the man’s eyes shift if only slightly, heard old boy snort, suddenly uneasy and stamping a hoof at the snow.</p><p>John didn’t know what the wolf did, but old boy didn’t like it “I know how to hide it” Arthur growled low in his throat the air itself seeming to tremble in response, john couldn’t look away, his instincts warning him of danger even though he knew Arthur was no threat to him.</p><p>A voice in the back of his head whispered that the wolf could be and that was all he needed to know but another smaller part was adamant the wolf would never hurt him.</p><p>Just as suddenly as he shifted Arthur looked away shaking his fur and the tense atmosphere broke, the wolf moving forward again and taking the lead and old boy snorting. When John reached forward to pat the horse’s neck, he felt it was damp with a nervous sweat “s’alright” he soothed quietly but he still watched Arthur closer.</p><p>The horse snorted, throwing his head as if to say, ‘no shit’ and then sped up his stride again growing closer to Arthur's tail.</p><p>Silence reigned for the rest of the ride after that until the sun was sinking, with the lack of threat to their lives Arthur wasn’t flat out running, rather he kept an easy pace that the large workhorse would be able to sustain and so they wouldn’t be able to cover the full distance to valentine in a single day, they weren’t even following the same path that had lead them there.</p><p>The sky was orange and the snow, while not gone, was much thinner when Arthur slowed to a stop at a place just past barrow lagoon, if john recognized the area it was a half days ride to valentine from there and from that a hard days ride would lead back to camp.</p><p>He just focused on the thought of getting to valentine as he dismounted, legs hurting from riding all day and pulling an oatcake from his saddlebag to give to old boy, murmuring to the beast that huffed almost in fond annoyance.</p><p>Arthur didn’t even have to say anything about this being their camping spot for the night, it was away from the road and there were some trees that would provide some decent cover but in case the Pinkertons had somehow picked up their trail he knew they wouldn’t be making a fire.</p><p>Wood would be too damp around the area anyway.</p><p>John glanced at Arthur who was sniffing around, probably making sure there wasn’t any danger nearby as he slipped into the trees. Or hunting, after being injured the werewolf had to be fucking starving, he always was after getting shot.</p><p>Without a fire he couldn’t have a piece of whatever the wolf hunted so after pitching the tent that had been strapped to his saddle and setting up his bedroll, a task that took longer than normal because of his shoulder, he settled down with some jerky he’d packed when he’d intended for their hunting trip to be a quick one.</p><p>Speaking of it would probably be wise to do some quick hunting after they got Arthur's horse, otherwise, Pearson would throw a fit.</p><p>If Charles hadn’t gone hunting in their absence, that was a possibility with as annoyed the man got with the cooks complaining sometimes, lost in thought as he rubbed his hands together to regain some feeling in them he didn’t notice the hulking figure in front of him until a gust of warm air hit his face.</p><p>Jerking back, he looked into amused blue eyes for a moment before Arthur’s tongue licked a stripe up the side of his face.</p><p>The sound john let out was neither human nor manly and even old boy jerked his head up, ears tipped toward his rider and chocolate-colored eyes very judging before he started nosing around in the snow again, pushing it off of stubborn patches of grass.</p><p>“asshole” he said to the wolf who was laughing jaws open and head ducked. Without thinking john shoved forward, his uninjured shoulder hitting the wolf's side and making him tumble.</p><p>John was sure that was only possible because the wolf didn’t fight him, still laughing as he fell on his side and then rolled onto his back, wiggling around in the shallow snow almost like john had seen horses do but with more wiggling involved until he stopped and fell silent.</p><p>Puffs of steam left his nose as he settled on his side, legs stretched out but relaxed and head tilted so he could look at john who was shaking his head slowly with his own amusement.</p><p>Snow was caught in the wolf's blonde coat but was melting slowly because of Arthur's body temperature, dampening his fur “you're gonna smell like a wet dog” john said and could basically see the wolf lift a brow before standing up and suddenly shaking.</p><p>The motion made half-melted snow and slush pelt john and he could only lift his hand “you asshole” he laughed, wiping the slush off of himself before managing to scowl at the wolf “just for that your furry ass gets to stand guard while I sleep”</p><p>Arthur snorted “was gonna do that anyway, I ain’t the injured one” Arthur motioned at John's shoulder with his front leg and john glanced down even though he knew he wasn’t bleeding, but it reminded him he needed to check the bandage.</p><p>Lips twisting for real this time he shrugged out of his jacket's shoulder and then pushed aside his shirts even as the cold slowly sunk into his uncovered from, the injury lacked any signs of infection and it did appear to be further healed than that morning, possibly because of his drinking last night, the memory of which had him frowning.</p><p>Or maybe because Arthur licked the injury, it had been aching less than it should since the wolf had done that. Making a mental note to ask about it later he fixed his clothes and pulled his jacket back on, pulling it closed and shivering “damn it” he said and glared at the sky.</p><p>“be glad to be rid of this shit again” he said and heard Arthur hum in agreement, even though he was a werewolf and as such had an insulated coat and higher body temperature, they had both spent more than enough time in the snow to last a lifetime.</p><p>Flopping back onto his bedroll john sighed “wake me if ya want me to take watch” he said, folding his hands on his middle and closing his eyes, choosing to force himself to ignore the chill that was now lingering in him and barely hearing Arthur hum again.</p><p>Fucking snow.</p><p>Fucking mountains.</p><p>Mother fucking Pinkertons’.</p><p>It hadn’t been 15 minutes when he heard movement at the mouth of the tent, he was going to open his eyes to look but they had finally started to feel heavy and he knew if he opened them he wouldn’t be getting any sleep.</p><p>Besides if it was important, he would have heard something from Arthur or old boy at least.</p><p>When warmth slowly built in the tent, he didn’t think about it, believing his body had just given up and his brain was allowing him to believe he was warm, as such he sighed and allowed sleep to take him.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>yes, two chapters at once, i wanna start adding these since its almost done.</p><p>TW: none.</p><p> </p><p>John Marston.<br/>28, vampire.<br/>Born vampire on a boat coming to America his family originated from Ireland, his father was also a vampire however he was bitten not born, and as such was weak to blood lust, the worse monster John had ever met.<br/>Has a code for drinking from humans, always asking for permission and never coercing them so he doesn’t end up a monster like his father. Largely he can sustain himself off of human food but given that vampires can not create their own red blood cells he goes out for a 'drink' every month or so.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The sun was barely a faint light on the horizon when john started to wake, feeling warm and confused by the fact he was sitting up slightly, with something warm and heavy on his chest and something warm and soft over his hands.</p><p>Brow furrowing, he shifted slightly and felt the warmth shift slightly as well.</p><p>Wrinkling his nose, he peeled his eyes open and stared up at the torn and stained canvas of his tent, blinking a few times before turning his head and. . .</p><p>Oh. . .</p><p>Arthur was curled up in the small space of a tent that would barely fit them both as humans, curled into a loose ball with his front legs stretched along johns left side and his back legs along johns right, massive head laying once again on johns chest and his fluffy and warm tail draped over where johns hands were folded on his middle.</p><p>He also wasn’t asleep “Arthur?” he questioned and both felt and heard the wolf hum in question “did ya get bored?” he asked, watching as blue eyes slipped open “got tired of hearing your teeth chatter is what I did” he drawled readjusting his head and closing his eyes again muzzle resting just shy of the injury on johns shoulder.</p><p>John hummed “well now my tent smells like wet dog” he tried to sound annoyed and didn’t know how well he did but at least the wolf snorted “you’ll live” he said and John rolled his eyes, lifting a hand from under the wolfs tail to pat his head, between his ears that drooped, relaxing from their alert twitching positions.</p><p>“well, scoot, let me wake up an we can get a move on” the wolf grunted but when john stopped petting him he lifted his head pausing for a moment before yawning, mouth opening wide and tongue stretching out over his teeth.</p><p>Suspecting he wouldn’t move on his own, john grasped the thick soft tail and lifted it off of himself, letting it flop to the side as he sat up and lifted his arms in a stretch, hearing something in his back pop and letting out a pleased sigh before standing from the tent.</p><p>He heard shuffling behind him but didn’t look as Arthur twisted his way out of the tent, but he did look when the wolf stretched paws falling heavy onto the snow and claws sinking into the snow and mud.</p><p>John noticed, absently, that the toes of Arthur's paws didn’t quite look like a normal dog or even a wolfs of which he had intimate knowledge and the scars to prove it.</p><p>First of all, the paws were massive, probably what allowed the wolf to move so silently and the fingers were each slightly longer than usual, the pad slightly more rounded like a palm.</p><p>They were clearly still paws but they just looked, not quite right, like the way an elf looked not quite human.</p><p>“get out of your head boah” Arthur drawled as a tail smacked into johns arm, making him focus on the wolf who had finished his stretching, and now that he saw John was out of his head, trotted over to old boy, the horse leaning his head down to touch noses with Arthur and then snort in greeting.</p><p>Muttering about his horse being a traitor he quickly packed up his tent and bedroll, storing both onto his saddle and they were moving towards valentine before the sun had fully risen into the sky, arriving at the town by late afternoon.</p><p>Valentine was always an interesting place to visit or do business in, creatures walking freely around the muddy streets meant no one gave the giant wolf a second glance.</p><p>Actually, that wasn’t quite true, several people glanced at Arthur, but it was more out of curiosity than fear or distrust. No, those looks were saved for john himself, armed the way he was and scowling at nothing, old boy snorting in annoyance at the mud.</p><p>Or because after crossing the Dakota river Arthur had shaken himself and soaked both the horse and john.</p><p>The asshole.</p><p>It only took a few minutes to recover his horse, the stable owner greeting Arthur and john like he knew them, which he honestly probably did seeing as they spent a fair amount of time in valentine before being chased from their camp.</p><p>Balu greeted Arthur with a happy snort and a nudge to the shoulder with her nose, the horse followed the wolf towards the edge of town and john let them go, choosing instead to run into the general store to pick up some supplies, like bandages and a new coat.</p><p>After packing them away in his saddlebags he glanced over to see Balu was hitched in front of the motel, knowing the man could most likely handle himself john knew he could just ride back to camp.</p><p>He knew Arthur didn’t need a babysitter, but he still pulled old boy up to Balu’s side, letting the horses greet each other because they were friends after all. Just as he was considering the thought of going into the establishment to ask about the werewolf, the man himself walked out.</p><p>Arthur looked just as john remembered him, his blonde hair was pushed back from his face and his jaw was stubbled, his old blue shirt stretched over his shoulders and gun belt resting low on his hips.</p><p>The man actually seemed surprised that john was sitting there “what took ya so long Morgan?” he questioned and the blonde shook his head, walking over and patting Balu who nudged her muzzle into his chest “you ain’t the one that had to run down a mountain Marston” he said.</p><p>John hummed, looking up at the town with the residents going on with their daily lives, a faun selling papers by the gun shop, the human sheriff leaned back in a chair whittling as his vampire deputy said something to him, a centaur was walking with an elf down the muddy street.</p><p>It was a calm town.</p><p>If only they were a calm people, maybe the gang could have made a life there.</p><p>“figure we might make it back to camp by tomorrow afternoon, do a bit of quick hunting around dewberry creek so Pearson doesn’t throw a fit” Arthur was looking at him oddly and john met his gaze evenly, lifting a brow and pursing his lips “what?” he finally asked and the blonde werewolf shook his head, chuckling as he mounted his horse.</p><p>It annoyed john “what?” he demanded again as Arthur patted Balu's neck “nothin Johnny” he said but John knew it wasn’t nothing.</p><p>He thought about pestering the man, annoying him until he finally told john what was so amusing but he didn’t, he just huffed more annoyed at the nickname than anything else “yeah whatever, let's get a move on” he kicked old boy into a trot out of town.</p><p>Arthur, his hat settled firmly onto his head caught up easily, sitting relaxed in the saddle and with a crooked smile on his face that John didn’t know what to think of.</p><p>So, he didn’t think and they just road in companionable silence.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>https://danger-r-98-5.tumblr.com/post/642095164275441664/rdr2-myth-au-details</p><p>info dump about species info ^</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>TW: none that I know of but Micah throws a temper tantrum.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>After their trip nothing really changed, john and Arthur's relationship had been broken in a way that wasn’t so easily fixed but after surviving the hunters, well it was starting to get better.</p><p>At least they didn’t get into yelling matches in camp anymore.</p><p>But that might also be because Arthur was never one to hang around camp, especially not with the moon on the rise. Born were’s weren’t really affected by the moon cycle like those that got bitten were but as Dutch had explained once a long time ago it did make the animal parts of them a bit stronger.</p><p>They didn’t have to shift but the urge was stronger, Dutch said to some their animal form was just more comfortable, the ability to stretch out and run and hunt if they wanted to.</p><p>It wasn’t a big deal and john already knew what would happen, uncle would laze around in his other form claiming the moon made him weak, bill would probably prowl around camp for a while before changing and napping in his tent and Dutch would probably play poker with Hosea and the twins.</p><p>Kieran would probably run to the edge of camp to avoid all of them out of fear even though none of them would hurt the pup after he’d proven himself and Arthur would go hunting for dinner just like he did every other week but nothing would be different.</p><p>It would be just another afternoon.</p><p>At least that’s what he thought.</p><p>Mostly his assumption was correct, bill was prowling and uncle was complaining and Arthur did go hunting, taking a pack horse to bring back two large does, making Pearson sing praise that Arthur never really listened to but then he left camp again.</p><p>John thought nothing of it, wasn’t his place to tell the older man what to do after all and besides he was distracted, he was sitting in the sun, enjoying the warmth after being back in the snow a week ago and faintly thinking about taking a nap.</p><p>Full moons were lazy days for the gang, had been for as long as John could remember but never more so than now. The last few months had been hard on all of them, losing their home in blackwater, damn near losing the twins and Jenny and Sean, and even john himself.</p><p>Settling in horseshoe only to have that safety ripped away from them, it was enough to drive anyone to despair and desperation and honestly, they needed days to relax more than ever now.</p><p>Dutch and Hosea knew this, their duel leadership often resulted in clashes, but this fact was one that they agreed on, even when Micah was throwing a fit about the wasted time.</p><p>As a matter of fact, Micah was currently throwing a fit which was the cause of John's distraction, standing by the table that Dutch, Hosea, Sean, and Davey had commandeered to play poker on, they were mostly ignoring the humans ranting with Davey and Hosea rolling their eyes on occasion.</p><p>Their table was shaded by the big oak tree in the middle of the camp, the base of which uncle was stretched out at, sliver fur tangled and head at an angle that couldn’t be comfortable as he snored.</p><p>Finally growing tired of the man Sean leaned back in his chair, leaving his cards facedown so Davey couldn’t catch a glimpse at them “oh shut it would ya, ya normal?” he drawled, words touched in a way that told john he’d already broken into Pearson’s crate of whisky.</p><p>Unsurprising, fauns were natural drunks.</p><p>“The fuck did you say, you little runt?” Micah snarled in a way that would rival even a wolf, an obvious threat, Micah was always a hothead, itching for violence in even the most peaceful situations.</p><p>John had no idea why Dutch had allowed the human to even tag along, not that there were any issues with humans in the gang hell they’d had several pass through over the years, including Pearson and Abigail, but Micha was like a rotted egg.</p><p>In scent and in nature, even john could smell him.</p><p>“Micah either buy-in or shut up” Davey said, scratching mac between the ears as his brother was laid out behind him in his other form, half an ear missing and pale blonde fur still refusing to grow where he had been burned in his escape from the Pinkertons.</p><p>Shaking his head john turned his gaze away from the scene the human was making, instead looking out at the water that was lapping at the sandy shore in front of him, Abigail was standing out there with little jack and that dog that had wandered into camp that Dutch had named Cain, Charles sitting just a short distance away from them and watching with a peaceful expression.</p><p>Then again, the man always had that expression, when he wasn’t being annoyed by a member of the gang.</p><p>Micah was starting to get loud again, and John could hear mac growling in annoyance while the others at the table ignored him but then everything was silenced by a low rumbling snarl.</p><p>John froze, body going stiff, and slowly turned his head, seeing everyone at the table had done the same and Micah had spun to face the sound, mac’s head was lifted, and his ears were perked forward.</p><p>Slowly a large dirty blonde wolf came around the large tree in the middle of camp, ears twitching, tail stiff, and blue eyes glowing Arthur was glaring and growling at Micah who in turn actually looked a little scared.</p><p>“what the fuck is that?” he asked, voice thin with fear hand twitching towards his guns. John saw Dutch shake his head and face back towards the table “that’s Arthur” he said before placing a bet.</p><p>A few soft gasps could be heard at these words, not many members of the gang had seen Arthur's other form in person and if they had it’d never been up close, tilly and Mary-Beth were staring with wide eyes by the stew pot.</p><p>“that’s not Morgan” Micah said in disbelief hands still twitching for his guns “Micah” Arthur growled as he stalked closer hackles raised and lips pulled back “why don’t you shut your god damned mouth, y’er stinking up the camp”</p><p>Micha glared at the wolf and then at the men sitting at the table as they all snorted or laughed and then he stumbled as Arthur walked right through him, standing between him and Dutch to growl for a moment with ears flattening before continuing forward.</p><p>Dutch, in his amusement, said something to Micah about nothing keeping the blonde in camp and that he was free to do any work or ask for help with any work but john didn’t really hear it as Arthur was moving right towards him.</p><p>His ears had perked up again with his posture loosening and his hackles lowered, the glow in his eyes faded and lips once again covered gleaming teeth, john wondered if he should still be worried until the wolf headbutted him.</p><p>If John had been a wolf it wouldn’t have moved him but he wasn’t so the gesture knocked him slightly to the side making him catch himself on his arm “damn it” he said and straightened up to glare at the wolf who had flopped at his side with his legs stretched out.</p><p>Sighing, he extended one hand and dug it into the fur of Arthur's belly, scratching like he’d done with Cain earlier “you, are an asshole” he said in vague amusement and the wolf huffed at him “shut up Marston” he muttered, looking comfortable with his eyes closed.</p><p>For the first in a long-time john actually listened, removing his hand from Arthur's thick and soft fur to return to lounging back on his hands and enjoying the warmth of the sun and the gentle blowing of the breeze off flatiron lake.</p><p>He wanted to ask why the blonde had come into camp now when he hadn’t before, wanted to ask if he felt uncomfortable with the eyes on him, Mary-Beth and tilly both still watching him and leaning close together, whispering in the way women did.</p><p>Hell, he even wanted to ask why the man sought john out when they hadn’t been on the best terms for the last four years, but he didn’t do any of that.</p><p>John didn’t actually speak at all, he just listened, to the peaceful chatter of the camp, the lapping of the water on the shore and the calm deep breaths Arthur took from beside him, the occasional snuffling sound he made when he caught a scent he didn’t like, probably Micah’s, or had a blade of grass tickle his nose.</p><p>The soft rustling as the wolf's tail twitched against the grass every few minutes.</p><p>It was, peaceful, and john finally laid back on the damp grass, hands folding over his middle, and heaved a deep sigh as he let his body relax, thinking more seriously about a nap until there was another snort from his side and then a sigh, making him open one eye and glance at Arthur who had lifted his head, blinking slowly in distaste and mouth tugging down slightly.</p><p>It would probably be a scowl on his human face.</p><p>John hummed, watching blue eyes glance at him before the blonde head laid down on folded paws “think anyone would miss em, if I ran him outta camp” he muttered, he didn’t need to specify who he was talking about, john could smell the faint stench of soured eggs from Micah who had stalked off down to the shoreline.</p><p>John noticed Charles had stopped watching Abigail and jack, who was now playing in the sand and instead watched Micah with a distrustful frown.</p><p>“Not for long, Dutch might but Hosea could probably distract him enough you’d get away with it” he was being serious and while Arthur snorted in amusement, he knew the wolf realized he wasn’t entirely joking.</p><p>Arthur sighed, rib cage shrinking with the weight of his breath “best not” he said reluctantly, ears drooping slightly in disappointment “best not what?” an amused voice questioned and john tipped his head to look at Hosea who had left the game, being replaced by Sadie.</p><p>The old vampire lowered himself down and settled his hand onto Arthur's head, petting between the blonde’s ears “run Micah out of camp, surprisingly people might miss him” john answered, not bothering to lower his voice.</p><p>Hosea chuckled folding his arm over Arthur's shoulder and leaning on the wolf who made no complaint “not as many as you might think” he said glancing over at john with amusement in his eyes and a lifted brow.</p><p>“though if you could make him go downwind I don’t think anyone would complain” it was said so nonchalantly both john and Arthur laughed, making a few people glance their way in curiosity, at least the people not already looking their way.</p><p>Pushing himself up on his elbows john looked first at Arthur who had closed his eyes, then at Hosea who was absently petting the wolf with an odd expression, then he looked down at the shore to see a small head of dark hair slowly creeping closer.</p><p>It made him smile “don’t look now Arthur” he muttered “but you have an admirer” the wolf grunted and opened his eyes, lifting his head and looking towards the shore and little jack who had been slowly creeping towards them.</p><p>Creeping until Arthur lifted his head, then he ran away to hide behind his mother who laughed with amusement.</p><p>Chuckling Arthur slowly got to his feet, shaking out his fur and keeping half an eye on where jack was hiding “if you’ll excuse me gentlemen” he drawled and turned away.</p><p>John lifted a brow and watched him trot around the big oak tree, going down between the tents and then backtracking, sneaking towards where jack was peeking from behind Abigail to look for him again.</p><p>Suddenly realizing what the wolf was doing john sat fully upright, lifting his knees to prop his arms over them and watching just a Hosea was doing. They silently watched Arthur creep around the log Charles was sitting on, pausing for a moment to nod at the man before darting behind some large rocks.</p><p>Jack had gone back to playing in the sand with Cain, though he looked slightly less joyful now, and they watched as, slowly, Arthur crept forward head lowered and paws making no noise in the sand.</p><p>John thought Abigail would have an issue with Arthur essentially stalking her son, but she just watched from her seat on a stone, hand covering her mouth so her giggles wouldn’t give Arthur away.</p><p>Slowly he crept forward, Cain stopping in his sniffing to look up at the much larger wolf with a half wagging tail, unconcerned as the wolf crept closer, crouching down so his shadow wouldn’t give him away.</p><p>It was mesmerizing to watch, made john wonder just how close it was to the way Arthur actually hunted but the spell was broken when Arthur, directly behind jack dug his paw into the sand and flung it at jack.</p><p>The boy made a startled sound and spun around staring at Arthur who lept backward before bowing his front legs, tail wagging in the air and mouth open. Jack laughed and jumped up to run for Arthur who dodged him and suddenly they were playing a game of chase.</p><p>“He seems to be in a playful mood” Hosea said, surprising john as he hadn’t realized the older was still there. John hummed, not really hearing what the man had said, and drew his eyes away from the scene in front of him to look at the older man, seeing him looking at john with a lifted brow rather than at the scene in front of them.</p><p>Looking forward again he watched as Arthur let jack catch him, the wolf laughing as they tumbled into the sand and jack started crawling on him “what happened the other week?” Hosea asked and this time john heard him.</p><p>“told ya, we got cornered by the Pinkertons’ and had ta make a run for it into the mountains” Hosea hummed looking forward as jack sat on Arthur's neck and the wolf trotted around like a horse, bouncing the boy a few times as he went “I fell into the haze a bit but I managed, aside from that nothing happened” john shrugged.</p><p>Hosea hummed again, not saying something he probably really wanted to “I just wonder what changed” he said, speaking slowly and making john look at him with a questioning expression “he used to love running around camp like that” Hosea nodded at the wolf who had settled down on his belly, jack sitting between his forelegs and digging small hands into the thick fur of his chest and throat.</p><p>“I asked him, he said it was something about not wanting people seeing him as different” john told the older man who chuckled quietly, looking unsurprised as if he already knew this “that boy” he shook his head “well whatever happened on the mountain and whatever changed, I’m glad for it”</p><p>Hosea reached out and put a hand on johns shoulder, squeezing for a moment before standing up and returning to the table where Sadie was laughing as she won a third hand of poker, Davey having abandoned the game to sprawl in the sun with mac for a nap, being replaced by Lenny.</p><p>“and where are you taking my son Arthur Morgan?” Abigail’s voice came from the shore, drawing John's eyes again, blinking he saw Arthur had started to walk away from the water and the back of the boy's pants was held delicately in his jaws, suspending the giggling child above the ground by a good few feet.</p><p>Abigail had her hands on her hips and her lips were twitching like she wanted to laugh or grin but wouldn’t allow herself and Arthur's tail was swaying back and forth as he turned his head to look at her.</p><p>“Sorry, he’s my son now” Arthur said through his mouth full of cloth and trotted forward happily making Abigail finally give up and laugh. John thought the wolf would carry the boy towards the tents or something for a nap but instead, he returned to John's side and sat down.</p><p>He dropped jack between his paws again and the child giggled before glancing up at john, suddenly growing shy “hi, uncle john” he muttered then started giggle again when Arthur licked a stripe across his hair, making the dark strands stand on end.</p><p>John chuckled at the interaction “hello jack, you seem to have been kidnapped by a wolf” the boy giggled again while Arthur turned his head to face him and snort “it's just uncle Arthur” he giggled</p><p>“is it?” john squinted at the wolf pretending not to know him before humming “looks like any normal brainless animal to me” he barely got the words out before Arthur was licking a stripe up his face again making him reel back “stop that you beast”</p><p>“don’t you listen to him jack” Arthur said looking back at his new charge “uncle John's just upset cause his brain got eaten by wolves” jack giggled while john rolled his eyes.</p><p>Jack started petting Arthur again, hands digging into the wolfs thick fur but it seemed the excitement on the shore had tired him out as after a few minutes the boy was yawning and leaning to the side, pillowing his head on Arthur's foreleg the fur of which he continued to pet until finally he stopped and his breathing slowed with sleep.</p><p>“so why did you steal him?” john asked keeping his voice low so as not to disturb the sleeping child, a little jealous the boy could nap while he had been disturbed from his own three times now.</p><p>Arthur rumbled slightly and glanced at him “Abigail looked like she could use the break” he said and john hummed, looking up to see the woman was now sitting by the fire, enjoying a cup of coffee and the pleasant conversation surrounding her.</p><p>Shrugging John looked back at the wolf and reached out to lay his hand between his shoulder blades “good a reason as any” he said and heard Arthur snort.</p><p>Turning his back to the wolf john leaned back and used the wolfs shoulder as a pillow, readjusting a bit before sighing and closing his eyes, relaxing into sleep finally and ignoring the people who were looking at them, specifically Dutch and Hosea who shared a knowing look before returning to their cards.</p><p>Arthur didn’t argue his new job as a pillow, simply huffed and adjusted himself enough to lay his head down without squishing the boy between his forelegs.</p><p>It was comfortable.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>TW: mission spoilers.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>TW: mission spoilers.</p><p> </p><p>Dutch Van Der Linde.<br/>	68, werewolf.<br/>	Born werewolf in New York to a long line of well-off wolves, couldn’t stand the city so he bailed and headed west where he found Hosea and they teamed up to start the van der Linde gang.<br/>	Has a dark coat that is beginning to be speckled with silver at his age and is supposedly the largest wolf in the gang, eyes glow green in his other form. Is considering retirement, see’s gang as his pack and loves all of them but something has been eating at him recently.</p><p> </p><p>Hosea Matthews.<br/>	95, vampire.<br/>	Born vampire, joined up with Dutch when dutch was in his 30's after the wolf tried to rob him and found a family in the gang they created.<br/>	Is a ‘vegetarian’ vampire, he doesn’t like to drink from humans or much at all and so physically ages faster than normal for his species, also prone to get sick because of weak lungs and is tired of running, desperate to retire once gang is safe.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It would have been normal if that was the end of it, but it wasn’t.</p><p>As a human Arthur didn’t treat him much differently. He would grumble at John, and snarl on occasion, generally being an asshole but as a wolf, he would seek John out, would lean against him, and let John slide his fingers through blonde fur.</p><p>It wasn’t unusual to find John sitting by the fire or in his tent with a blonde head laying on his lap, the wolf melting out of the tree line at least twice a week at this point.</p><p>Very few people batted an eye at this, jack loved it actually just as he loved playing with all of the were’s in camp but Micah was getting twitchy especially given that if Arthur wasn’t glued to John's side he was sitting by the scout fire and watching him.</p><p>John didn’t really think anything of it, they worked as they always worked but the more time that went by, he did notice Dutch and Hosea watching him or Arthur or both of them with something akin to amusement.</p><p>Amusement which was slowly changing to impatience as time went on.</p><p>He didn’t know why; John would have thought the men would appreciate the lack of arguing around camp, but it was almost like they were waiting for something. John didn’t really have any idea what this something was, but he was also waiting on something, specifically, he was waiting for Micah to snap and do something stupid.</p><p>At first, the stinking bastard avoided Arthur, then he started raising a fuss that the blonde spent so much more time around camp instead of working which multiple members shot down as Arthur was the hardest worker of them all and had donated quite a bit of money to the camp funds according to the logbook.</p><p>When Micah’s lack of donations was brought up the blonde had slunk away with a snarl.</p><p>But it didn’t stop there, one way or another Micah had some complaint about Arthur being in camp in his shifted form and they were becoming steadily more annoying and outrageous by the second, to the point he started claiming fear for the human occupants of the camp.</p><p>This claim was actually amusing as it had spurred molly, one of the humans in camp, to walk up to Arthur and kiss him square on the muzzle, followed by Abigail and jack jumping on him while he just sat frozen in embarrassed surprise as the ladies scrubbed at his fur and cooed at him.</p><p>The slack-jawed shock on the wolf's face at the ladies' attention had made the camp cackle and John had looked at Pearson, the final human in camp, who was putting the final touches on that afternoon's lunch, spurring the aging man to glance up and snort.</p><p>“what? I ain't gonna kiss em”</p><p>The camp laughed for an hour, and between these peals of laughter Hosea had stated very plainly that Arthur held no threat to anyone in camp, Charles had amended the old vampire's words with the statement that they weren’t the one pissing the wolf off.</p><p>In the commotion Arthur had escaped the human’s grasps, gently depositing jack into his mother’s care before booking it out of the camp and toward the tree line.</p><p>John found him just as the twilight started to darken the sky in shades of purple, lingering up by the scout fire and watching the camp, completely ignoring Kieran who lingered by the fire and the horses that grazed all around him as he leaned against a tree.</p><p>The only reason John even spotted him was because of the lit end of his cigarette, flaring up every few moments. Wading through the horses that were grazing and dozing he approached the man’s side, seeing the look of almost wonder and disbelief that lingered in his eyes and on his face, briefly illuminated every time he brought his cigarette to his mouth.</p><p>John lingered at his side, looking at his profile before looking down at the camp where people were finishing up their work and relaxing for the night, finishing up dinner and getting ready to settle for the night.</p><p>Backlit by the water it was a peaceful scene.</p><p>The plate at Arthur's feet told him someone had found Arthur with food, it might have been Kieran, the young pup growing calmer around them by the day, or it might have been Hosea as the vampire had disappeared for a bit earlier.</p><p>“they really don’t mind it” the words almost caught him off guard in his wondering but at the same time he wasn’t surprised, he knew the blonde wanted to say something. “I told ya they wouldn’t” John drawled, reaching into his jacket for his own cigarette and striking a match off the tree to light it.</p><p>Arthur hummed at his words “you're still surprised by it” he said and the blonde hummed again, silence falling for a few minutes until John sighed “I told you, Arthur, ya might be a little nicer as a wolf but, your still you. We all see that, we ain’t gonna treat you no different”</p><p>“you treat me different” he glanced over to see the blonde looking at him, the light-catching in his blue eyes, something he couldn’t name lingering in the blondes stubbled face and making John look at him fully “well, you treat me different too” the words were quiet in the night like a strong gust could have stolen them away.</p><p>There was something building between them, John couldn’t quite tell what it was, but it made the air feel heavy, like the onset of the haze but rather than dampening his senses, they all heightened.</p><p>John could hear the thump of Arthur's pulse, could smell the damp earth, gunpowder, and sweat that clung to his skin, a drop of which rolled down his forehead, he could see the man’s eyes dilate and his nostril’s flare as he scented the air, apparently doing what John had just done.</p><p>His eyes slipped down, watching the bead of water trail down his face and then slip down his tanned throat, watched as his Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed, eyes focusing in on the arear that the beat of his pulse originated from.</p><p>As he did something shifted, John didn’t quite know what it was but he opened his mouth, eyes flicking back up and breath building in his chest and the first syllable of Arthur's name poised on the tip of his tongue and. . .</p><p>Someone sneezed.</p><p>Physically jumping away from each other they turned to look a Kieran who was rubbing his nose but looked up when he felt eyes on himself, already pale skin going further pale “what did I do?” he questioned, voice trembling.</p><p>Arthur and John both sighed, shoulders falling.</p><p>Whatever the spell had been that had fallen over them and whatever words John had wanted to speak were both lost to the evening breeze coming off of the lake. Turning and flicking his burned-out cigarette into the fire pit he put a hand on Arthur's shoulder “don’t pout up here for too long” he said.</p><p>The blonde looked at him and the corner of his lips turned down “I ain't poutin” he said and John chuckled “whatever you say Arthur, goodnight” he took his hand from the blonde's shoulder and turned away.</p><p>As he walked toward his tent, he heard mumbling and then another sneeze followed by Arthur's voice “well go get a jacket if y’er gonna keep sneezing like that!” followed by Kieran's squeak of a reply.</p><p>He didn’t think too much about it, ducking into his tent and closing the flaps, laying in his bed only to stair up at the canvas of his tent, not seeing it so much as seeing the curve of Arthur's throat.</p><p>John turned over and shoved his face into his pillow to try and block it out, he’d already drank once from the man without permission, he wasn’t going to imagine doing it again especially not from such an intimate location.</p><p>Vampires didn’t drink from the throat unless they, well.</p><p>They just didn’t do it.</p><p> </p><p>~</p><p> </p><p>John woke up to the sound of hooves leaving camp and lifted his head from his arm squinting at the thin thread of light coming from the not completely closed tent flaps.</p><p>It was watery and weak, it had to be early morning, it didn’t even sound like many people were awake and it was defiantly earlier than he usually woke up. Normally when the sound of riders leaving camp woke him, he would just grumble and get a couple of more hours before making his appearance to the world but the sound of hooves this time made him worried.</p><p>Something was gnawing weakly at his guts, but it wasn’t hunger or thirst or even the beginning signs of the haze, it was. . .</p><p>Something else.</p><p>Pushing himself to his feet he pulled on his pants and stepped out into the early morning light, rubbing at his tangled strands of hair and frowning, early morning mist preventing him from seeing what horses were missing from their grazing spots but he could see Hosea.</p><p>Walking slowly towards the table the old vampire glanced up, vaguely surprised to see John moving about so early “good morning” he greeted before looking back at his paper and John grunted a reply, still glancing around “who rode out?” he grumbled in question, the man’s eyes flicking up to study him.</p><p>“Dutch Arthur and Micah” he said before turning the page of the paper and humming at whatever he saw.</p><p>John's brows furrowed in confusion, knowing Dutch rarely left camp for good reason given his bounty was double the rest of the camp, and the line up was odd “they going to dump the rat's body?” John questioned, sitting down across from the man who chuckled.</p><p>“one can wish, no, Pearson got a lead on getting some of the heat off our backs and their going to have a meeting with Colm o’driscolle” John stared at the silver-haired vampire, eyes wide and jaw slacking in shock “what the fuck is Dutch thinking?!” he demanded.</p><p>Hosea shook his head and lifted his shoulders “Micah's got him hyped up on the idea of peace” he tried to explain as John rubbed his mouth, resisting the urge to hiss and bare his fangs “there ain't gonna be no peace with those bloodthirsty savages”</p><p>He looked at the way out of camp, vaguely wondering if he would be able to catch up to them with old boy “it’s gotta be a trap, why didn’t they take me along?”</p><p>Now the old man had an odd look in his eyes, a strange glimmer than John couldn’t put a name to “Arthur said to let you sleep” John looked down at the table and the gouges from a knife, tracing one with a finger as he frowned.</p><p>“their walking into a trap” he said lowly, his gut clenching with the truth of it “I know but look at the bright side” John looked up, raising a brow at the man “Micah might end up being shot and killed”</p><p>John laughed at the unexpected words, snorting and sitting back “there's chores that need done” he said and the man looked back at the paper “then you best get to work”</p><p>Knocking his knuckles onto the table he got up and walked away, gnawing at his bottom lip, and walking toward the horses to check on old boy.</p><p>The beast snorted at him as he got close, clearly agitated but John didn’t quite know why so he just rubbed under the stallion’s forelock, offering the horse an oatcake “you leery of this meeting to?”</p><p>John turned his head at the sudden voice, looking at Charles who was watching him with a calm expression, amber eyes staring straight at him. He didn’t ask how the man knew about the meeting just as he didn’t ask how the man was so fucking quiet when he walked</p><p>He’s thought it was just a thing with weres but apparently not.</p><p>“Colm ain't known for being the most trustworthy bastard” John looked out at the trees, frowning “so I've heard” he said and silence fell for a moment before the man clicked his tongue, his horse Taima walking up to him calmly and nudging his chest with her nose, looking for a treat.</p><p>John found it amusing, especially when the man produced a peppermint to give to the horse “Arthur spoiled her in colter” Charles offered in explanation, not even looking at John “he bought old boy with sugar cubes”</p><p>The man shook his head fondly, dark hair rustling and glimmering slightly like lightning was arcing between the strands “I’ll be going hunting in an hour to head off Pearsons complaining, come with me, it’ll keep your mind off the meeting”</p><p>John rose a brow at the man, finding the offer slightly strange but knowing he could trust the thunderbird, although he was curious why the man had offered.</p><p>Maybe he needed a distraction too, John knew he and Arthur were friends.</p><p>“why not” he shrugged and patted his horse again before walking back into the slowly moving camp.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>RDM town info.</p><p>Valentine.<br/>	A safe haven for others, it was a town created after the end of the war and is largely populated with were’s, vampires, elves, and others that pass through.</p><p>Rhodes.<br/>	Not safe for others, the warring families can agree on only one thing and that’s the death of all myth. The sheriff is a retired myth hunter who likes to brag but also drinks because of the guilt at killing so many.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>TW: further spoilers for chapter 3 mission with Colm. let's just keep that for the next couple of chapters.<br/>small mention of injury expanded upon in the next chapter.<br/>that's it.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>He and Charles did go hunting and although they didn’t do much talking it was enjoyable, distracting John from the feeling gnawing at his belly and telling him something was wrong.</p><p>They returned in the late afternoon, their mounts and the two pack horses they had brought along each hosting a deer, insuring they would have plenty of meat for at least the next couple of days, both for the stew and to be dried.</p><p>Announcing their return to the camp guard, bill this time, they trotted right up to Pearson's wagon to unload their hunt, the fat man seeming slightly dishearted even as he appeared excited about the food.</p><p>Brow furrowing John looked at the man “were you expecting more Mr. Pearson?” Charles voiced his thoughts and the man shook his head “never from you Mr. Smith, Dutch and Micah are back, turns out my lead didn’t pan out”</p><p>Tilting his head John looked around, finding both the men’s horses grazing with the others “what about Arthur?” he questioned and the cook shrugged “Said he had to run some errands, relax Marston, your pet will be back”</p><p>John looked up at Micah who was leaning against the back of the chuck wagon, playing with a knife “he ain’t nobody’s pet Bell” he snarled at the human who looked far too pleased with himself.</p><p>The blonde snorted, unimpressed and John felt like leaping at the man, felt like slamming his fist into his face but a hand on his shoulder distracted him, Charles turning his away from the blonde and back toward their haul.</p><p>“I don’t trust him” the man muttered and John hummed in agreement, knowing if he spoke his words would be slurred by his fangs that had dropped down.</p><p>Rubbing his eyes he sighed that ache he’d be ignoring all day being replaced by a sharp pain of ‘not right, something wrong’ that wouldn’t go away “what are you thinking?” Charles asked and John glanced over at the man, assessing his expression and the look in his eyes before sighing forcefully.</p><p>“I’m thinking there ain’t no errands that needed runnin” he replied before glancing back, just barely catching the tail end of Micah's victorious smirk before the man turned away and walked towards Dutch’s tent.</p><p>Charles grunted in agreement.</p><p> </p><p>~</p><p> </p><p>John pulled mid-evening guard duty, and so couldn’t go looking at their meeting spot but Charles had no such obligation, disappearing from the camp and not returning until the next morning as John sat in his tent, unable to fall asleep.</p><p>The man slipped silently into the tent, followed by none other than Hosea, the three of them making the tent feel a little cramped and Charles relayed what he had found, signs of a struggle and traces of blood, the tracks too muddled for Charles to be able to follow in the darkness or from the air.</p><p>Hosea looked concerned, sitting on the edge of John's cot by John's feet while Charles remained standing, having to hunch slightly with his height.</p><p>“I don’t like this” Hosea said after a minute of silence, keeping his voice low and John nodded his head “it might not have been Arthur's blood” John played the devil's advocate “maybe not” Hosea agreed “but I don’t trust a word that Micah said” Charles and John hummed in agreement.</p><p>“if Arthur ain't back by this afternoon, we’ll go out looking for him, we all know he’s got a habit of wandering off for weeks at a time” the man said and John nodded, he wanted to go now, to find the werewolf but he knew if he didn’t get at least some sleep he would be useless.</p><p>Charles was glancing at the tent flaps like he wanted to go out and question Micah directly but they all knew that wouldn’t work for them, not with the sway the blonde had found himself holding with Dutch.</p><p>Of which none of them understood.</p><p>“we’ll ride out once I get some sleep” John agreed and the other men dipped their heads, Charles leaving the tent first and Hosea lingering on his cot “we’ll find him” he eventually said and John lifted a brow.</p><p>Curious as to why Hosea was talking to him like that now, almost comfortingly, like he was the one that needed reassurance over all of the rest of them.</p><p>It was starting to get weird.</p><p>“I know, he probably just wandered off again an we're getting worked up over nothing” John waved a hand with a confidence he didn’t have and the older vampire looked at him, really looked at him before huffing an amused sigh.</p><p>“maybe so John” he patted Johns knee “maybe so”</p><p> </p><p>~</p><p> </p><p>Afternoon came and went and after a few hours of restlessly tossing and turning and getting little sleep, John was up and saddling old boy, rubbing the beast’s neck as the sun dipped below the horizon and giving him an entire box of oatcakes to try and calm him down.</p><p>Arthur hadn’t returned that afternoon, there was no sign of him and other members of the camp were starting to get worried, picking up on the unease radiating off of him, Hosea, and Charles.</p><p>Mac and Davey were stalking around the camp on four legs, waiting to follow John and Charles to the meeting spot to lend their noses to the search, and tilly was glancing around uneasily watching the trees.</p><p>Even Dutch was glancing around, lips pursed below his mustache and randomly scenting the air.</p><p>Being at the edge of the camp, soothing his mount, and partly himself, while Charles pointed at the area they were riding towards he was the first one to notice it, the metallic scent of blood on the air.</p><p>Old boy flattened his ears and John turned to face the trees, the hair on the back of his neck and his arms standing on end.</p><p>He knew the scent of blood, had been around enough of it that he knew each variety to the point he could tell what other it belonged to but this was different, not smelling quite right.</p><p>The blood had the scent of sickness on it, of pain so potent he could almost see it as pale streaks of color on the wind.</p><p>The others behind him must have noticed his lack of attention as they looked at him, the twins both pick up their heads with their ears tipping forward, listening and scenting the air “what is that” Davey questioned as mac snorted and rubbed at his nose.</p><p>Hosea walked slowly to John’s side “what do you smell?” the older asked, looking at John's ruby eyes that were staring into the dark trees “pain and sickness, somethings not right” he rumbled and finally spotted it.</p><p>Coming through the darkness was a large shape, a pale blue glow barely visible as it drew closer, the snorting sound of an agitated horse not far behind it.</p><p>Just before it broke the tree line it collapsed and John rushed forward, knowing in that aching part of himself that had been screaming ‘not right’ for the last two days that the shape was Arthur.</p><p>He was proven correct as he drew closer and found Arthur, his blonde fur stained dark with blood and eyes closed, breathing shallow and ragged as claws dug into the earth, trying to get up “Arthur” he said as the other rushed forward</p><p>Hosea was beside him in a moment, looking at the creature and hands shaking as he reached out before he lifted his hand to his face, expression pinched “he doesn’t smell right” he said making faintly glowing eyes peal open.</p><p>“Hosea” Arthur's voice was a rasp, teeth stained with blood that may or may not have been his own.</p><p>Davey and mac tried to get close, they had the urge to go to their injured packmate, to protect and tend to the wolfs injuries but reared back after a minute, letting out high pitched sounds of distress “he smells like sickness” mac said, lowering his ears and tucking his tail as Davey did the same, both of them whining as they retreated away from the figure.</p><p>Suddenly Dutch was rocketing forward hovering over the wolf between John and Hosea “son” he said in dismay and horror before coughing and covering his mouth with his handkerchief.</p><p>Arthur stirred again at Dutch’s voice, looking at the man with wild and weak eyes, lifting his head like he wanted to get up before it fell back to the ground, legs struggling weakly on the ground and digging up pieces of mud.</p><p>“I told you it was a trap Dutch” he rasped sounding desperate but so weak “what happened?” the older wolf asked, his eyes glimmering green “it was a setup, they got me but I got away”</p><p>The wolf struggled to get up again but stopped when John's hands settled on his cheek and shoulder “you did good Arthur” he said, trying to soothe but wide eyes simply flicked to him before closing.</p><p>“they wanted to hunt us, set the law on us” his voice had dropped to a pained whine.</p><p>Dutch finally managed to reach out, hand laying beside John's on the wolf's cheek “calm down” Dutch’s voice had deepened “your safe now Arthur” he tried to soothe and the wolf chuckled “that’s pretty Dutch” he rasped.</p><p>“reverend! Susan! We need help over here” Dutch bellowed, causing the two to come running, gasping at the look of the wolf before ushering them to take him to his tent and then shoving them all away.</p><p>Dutch stared at the wolf as Susan tried to coach Arthur threw changing back into his human form, Swanson pushing aside matted hair to inspect the numerous wounds that littered the wolf's body.</p><p>But the more Susan tried to coach the more futile it seemed, Arthur's throat tightened on whines of pain even though he had lost consciousness.</p><p>“Dutch” Hosea touched the man's shoulder, also making John look away from the wolf “he smells like death Hosea” the man's words were strained as he ducked his head, nose still shoved into his handkerchief, pressing it into Hosea's shoulder.</p><p>It would have been an intimate gesture if Dutch wasn’t shaking and Hosea wasn’t pale “he smells like Annabelle”</p><p>John looked back at the wolf and stared as Susan and Swanson tried to save his life, the scent he now and forevermore would recognize as death, clinging to his hands.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Chapter 8</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>TW:  bloodletting of a sort.<br/>descriptions of torture.</p><p>ps</p><p>the burnout is strong with this one folk's, might be taking a short break to recharge.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>They watched from a distance for several minutes, the camp gathering around at a further distance to watch, almost as if holding a vigil for the blonde and they all looked at Susan as she left the tent in a huff, power sparking around her fingertips in her frustration.</p><p>Swanson looked paler than usual as he hovered over Arthur's body “what's wrong?” Hosea questioned the witch who turned to them “what's wrong is he ain't changing back, it’s like he’s stuck in that form, the boys been tortured but I don’t know with what aside from silver of which Swanson's already extracted, the only good thing is his bleeding has stopped”</p><p>She sounded angry and desperate at the same time, the woman viewing the wolf as her son as she had known him since he was a teenager.</p><p>“what are you saying?” John questioned, making the woman look at him “I'm saying that it looks like he’s damn well dying Mr. Marston, he's not healing, the wounds are all discolored and black around the edges and we don’t know why”</p><p>“I might” a voice spoke from the crowd and they all turned to look at Kieran who cowered at their sudden attention “what do you know?” bill growled, towering over the smaller figure who cowered further for a moment before stepping closer.</p><p>The boy was pale and his hands were shaking, shoulders hunched up like he wanted to hide “he, he, Colm had a habit of, torturing people that upset him, I've seen that before” the boy stuttered, nodding towards Arthur.</p><p>John fully turned and approached the boy “you know what this is?” John stared at him and Kieran nodded “it, its poison, the o’driscolls are all wolves and, w-well, there's only one thing that can poison wolves”</p><p>“silver?” John asked “partly, Colm would have his boys maul you and then he, he'd shove silver shaving’s and dust into the wounds” the boy was stuttering with fear, looking around at everyone that was staring at him, most of them with glowing eyes but he stopped when John's hands landed heavily on his shoulders.</p><p>Once a long time ago John would get lost in the detail, overwhelmed by what he was trying to say and Arthur would ground him, anchoring him with calm words and a heavy hand.</p><p>He might not have the calm words but he could damn sure try “Duffy, focus” he rasped and the young wolf looked at him “what else did Colm use” he spoke slowly and saw the boy swallow.</p><p>“well, w-when he wanted you to, to suffer he, he injected you with monkshood” Johns brows furrowed at the name he didn’t recognize, seeing his confusion the wolf swallowed again “wolfbane”</p><p>“fuck” John spun away, releasing the wolf to slink away and rubbing at his mouth. In small amounts wolfbane could be used to torture a were whose accelerated healing could make the usually lethal plant less harmful, a small amount could lock a were into their shifted form but a large enough dose.</p><p>If Arthur wasn’t healing and his condition was worsening then that means his healing abilities were fighting the wolfbane and losing.</p><p>“how do you treat that?” Sadie questioned, looking between Susan who was covering her mouth, and Kieran who was actually cowering closer to bill who was snarling under his breath.</p><p>“y-you cant” Kieran whined and John spun back around, staring at Arthur whose breathing was shallow, his ears picking up the sound of his sluggish heart “so he's just gonna die?!” Sadie demanded.</p><p>John snarled “no” he said, his voice making the woman fall silent with the loud sharpness of it “then how do we treat it?” the woman challenged “we remove it”</p><p>“How?!” John turned his head and hissed at the woman, fangs in full view.</p><p>The woman was confused however Dutch and Hosea weren’t “John” Hosea warned “wolfbane is lethal, to everything” John glanced at the older man “then I better now swallow”</p><p>Usually, that would have been turned into a dirty joke by at least one of the camp's residents but none of them could think of that, too busy staring at him before finally turning away, realizing exactly what he was going to do and giving him the privacy needed to do it.</p><p>To sign his own death warrant.</p><p>Turning he ignored Dutch and Hosea and Susan, hissed at Swanson to get out of the way, and fell to his knees at Arthur's side, staring at the bloodied wounds and the matted clumps of fur, digging his fingers into the fur of his shoulder to touch to warm skin.</p><p>The wolf's body temperature had risen drastically, fever to try and fight the toxin flowing through his veins.</p><p>“don’t make me regret this” he murmured before putting his hands into the thick fur on his throat, pushing most of it aside to locate the large artery that traveled there, ducking his head to nudge the skin with his nose, pausing for a moment to inhale the small space of Arthur's untainted scent before opening his mouth and letting his fangs sink in.</p><p>John remembered Arthur's blood from the mountain, even though the haze he knew the taste of it by heart but what met his lips and flowed into his mouth wasn’t the sun-sweet whisky he remembered.</p><p>This was bitter, burning John's mouth and surrounding all of his senses with ‘pain, pain, wrong, wrong, wrong’ lifting his head he turned it to the side, spitting the blood onto the ground outside of the tent before going back in.</p><p>The second mouth full burned less.</p><p>The third was slightly numb.</p><p>The fourth had his hands spasming, pulling back to spit and cough, hacking slightly before going in again.</p><p>The fifth and he couldn’t really feel it anymore, couldn’t taste the bitterness but numbness was spreading through his body.</p><p>The sixth and he stopped counting because he couldn’t focus on it anymore, couldn’t focus on anything aside from the urge to keep going, listening to the sluggish thudding in his ears that grew stronger.</p><p>Pressing his face into Arthur's fur he hacked again, body growing weak and fuzzy vision watching as the gash his fangs had torn open stopped bleeding, the skin ever so slowly knitting closed.</p><p>He rasped a laugh as hands pulled at his shoulders pulling him away from Arthur’s fur, his eyes growing heavy even as someone called his name, he was just too tired to keep them open, his body gone numb.</p><p>He just needed some sleep.</p><p>Just a few minutes.</p><p>He went limp.</p><p>~</p><p>Arthur's head hurt, his body was on fire and the light of morning burned his eyes even through the burlap of his tent.</p><p>His tent, he had made it back to camp, he had warned them even if he didn’t know exactly how.</p><p>Something with an odd scent laid nearby, a rasping breath aside from his own making his ears twitch. He didn’t have the strength to lift his head but his eyes moved to look at the figure beside him, dark hair and pale skin.</p><p>John slept on a bedroll at his side but he wasn’t quite sure why, the vampire's breathing was shallow and his heartbeat sluggishly, some strange scent lingering on his skin.</p><p>It was too much effort to lift his head, to sniff at the man and find out just what the fuck that smell was but he lifted his hand, or well his paw, and reached out, desperate for contact.</p><p>He laid it on John's chest, the vampires breathing gently lifting the appendage, and Arthur sighed, closing his eyes while trying to match the other's breathing.</p><p>Sleep took him again before he noticed the silver-haired vampire lingering at the mouth of the tent, watching them with worried eyes.</p><p>Sometime during his sleep, he felt the figure under his paw move, not from its own volition and his lips curled, a snarl welling up in his chest.</p><p>He wasn’t sure if he actually snarled or not but the offender stopped trying to move John away,  allowing Arthur to shift slightly closer head moving blindly forward until his nose nudged the vampire's forehead and he relaxed back into unconsciousness, surrendering to the pain.</p><p>~</p><p>Dutch and Hosea stared at the wolf that had snarled a challenge when they attempted to move John, to make both more comfortable as they fought for their lives against the poison in their blood.</p><p>Arthur had never snarled in challenge before, never bared his teeth at them like that even in puberty and they exchanged a knowing glance, both their eyes shadowed from sleepless nights and their brows wrinkled with stress.</p><p>They danced around each other in wakefulness but their unconscious minds couldn’t, craving closeness with each other in their weakened states both to protect and be protected.</p><p>The older creatures could only hope and pray they lived long enough to get their shit together.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Chapter 9</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>just a short update as I get back into the swing of things. ain't really any TW for this chapter but I have to say it's one of my favorites so far.</p><p>excluding the cabin scene, I love the cabin scene haha.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Wakefulness was a slow thing, coming and going with the tide but eventually, John struggled to the shore of it, something heavy on his chest.</p><p>Slowly he opened gummy eyes to see pale light on the burlap of a tent, fresh air blowing off the Potomac the cleanness of it removing the smell of sickness from his nose</p><p>His memory was vague and distant and something heavy laid on his chest, if he had the energy he would look to see what it was but he didn’t care at the moment, preferring to just lay there and exist for a little while.</p><p>John's fuzzy view was suddenly interrupted by a head of grey hair, Hosea leaning over him and looking just a bit closer to death than usual with his worry-lined face and the dark circles under his eyes “are you with us, John?”</p><p>The question was confusing at first until a distant memory lifted to the front of his mind and he turned his head slightly, licking his lips before attempting to speak.</p><p>“did it work?” his voice was a rougher rasp than usual but it made Hosea sigh in relief “yes John” he said, smiling slightly and looking to John's other side, making John also turn his head.</p><p>A wolf laid beside him, the heaviness on John's chest belonging to a paw and thick fur hiding any wounds.</p><p>Arthur.</p><p>His fur was once again blonde, wiped clean by someone “he’s recovering, you did well John, even though you almost died” Hosea spoke calmly even though he didn’t seem calm.</p><p>John blinked slowly, turning to look again at the top of the tent and lifting his hand to the wolf’s paw, wanting to sit up but lacking the strength at the moment, his head swimming with just the thought of moving too much.</p><p>His mouth was dry and it tasted of death, he had questions but he couldn’t quite form them, his mind fading again “rest John” Hosea reached out to touch his forehead, checking for a fever that he might or might not have had.</p><p>“I’ll get you something to drink when your awake again” he hummed and exhaled as sleep claimed him, this time letting him float rather than dragging him under.</p><p>It took four days for him to regain his strength and in that time Arthur showed very little sign of waking, only rumbling when John moved too much and blindly nudging his nose against John's hair which was becoming disgusting even to John.</p><p>He needed to bathe soon, and perhaps it was that more than anything that helped him recover.</p><p>On the fourth night as he slept he felt the heavyweight on his chest shifting and growing lighter, he thought it was a trick of the night and didn’t think any more of it until he woke up.</p><p>On the fifth day he woke to a warm weight pressed against his chest, something shoved under his chin and it took him a moment to realize it was Arthur, human and naked and half laying on his chest.</p><p>And very naked.</p><p>John blinked at the now human body in confusion until his eyes settled on the bright red lines of injuries covering his body that were only just truly starting to heal “Arthur” he felt himself say as he shifted and felt the human body twitch.</p><p>He listened as Arthur inhaled, slowly and deeply and then he felt his head shift, nose pressing against John's throat as he rumbled in pained displeasure.</p><p>Reaching up John slid his fingers into human hair, finding it just as thick as his coat if a bit gross from not being washed in a week.</p><p>“Arthur” he tried again, and the man huffed, John watched as his eyes slowly opened, looking unfocused and still glowing blue they seemed confused “John” his voice was small and rough.</p><p>“ya gotta let me up big guy” he said and watched the other blink slowly, letting out a quiet whine before slowly turning onto his back.</p><p>John almost wished he hadn't moved as now John could see every inch of him, it wasn’t Arthur's nakedness that left him speechless though, it was the injuries.</p><p>The worst of which was at his shoulder, still barely healed even after a week, other lines covered his body and chest, and legs.</p><p>It made John's throat burn, his breath hitching as Arthur whined “hurts” slurred quietly “rest” John felt himself saying, his voice dropping slightly as he put his hand on the others chest feeling his heart beating slowly.</p><p>Arthur let out another whine, head tipping back slightly before he fell back into uncautiousness, breathing going shallow.</p><p>Reaching out John pulled the blanket from Arthur's cot and laid it over him, giving back his decency before attempting to stand. Legs weak and tingling for a moment before he remembered how to walk.</p><p>Slipping out of the tent he breathed in the fresh air, looking at the early morning light that had yet to burn away the fog blanketing camp, he was surprised when he saw a dark shape creeping around the camp.</p><p>Dutch walking in his other form with Hosea keeping pace at his side, both looking pensive until they noticed John standing there and immediately came over “how are you feeling?” Dutch asked, sniffing at John even as he spoke.</p><p>Distantly John noticed that while Dutch was broad he wasn’t quite as tall as Arthur “human” he replied to the question making both creatures flinch slightly “what about” Hosea looked at the tent flap and John lifted a shoulder “he changed back, his shoulder though”</p><p>John stopped and his lips pressed into a thin line “its barely healed”</p><p>The two creatures shared a look “it might never heal, it was cauterized with the silver shavings still in it, if it does heal it will never be the same” Dutch had sat down and was frowning at the ground “I never should have taken that meeting”</p><p>John was surprised as Hosea reached out and dug his fingers into the fur on dutches head, stroking gently and making the wolf lean into it “what's done is done, we can only hope to move on from it”</p><p>Dutch made a sound and John looked down, ignoring how intimate the gesture was and how he had done something similar to Arthur so many times and then he excused himself.</p><p>He didn’t want to say he was fleeing but it was close enough.</p><p>He needed to think.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Chapter 10</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>TW: violence.<br/>explosions.<br/>arguments.<br/>the boys getting their shit together.</p><p>might end at an odd point but I had to cut the chapter in half, the next one should make up for it though *wink*</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was hard to stay away at first and John didn’t understand it, something was pulling him toward Arthur's tent even as he tried to avoid it, to give Arthur time to recover and heal.</p><p>Which the man did, now that he had returned to his human form Susan and Swanson had been able to better clean his shoulder wound and the man was on his feet again in just a few days.</p><p>Although he was slow about it, walking around for a few minutes before returning to his tent and doing something in that journal of his.</p><p>John watched from a distance and did some simple job’s but he was avoiding Arthur just the same as Arthur was beginning to avoid him and it was becoming noticeable, mostly because Arthur’s wolf stopped showing up in camp.</p><p>Hell, Arthur himself was avoiding camp to after he was strong enough to leave it, busying himself with different jobs to the point even John was worried about it.</p><p>It didn’t escape his notice one day that Dutch and Hosea gave each other a look from across the camp before Hosea was marching towards him “ride with me John” John blinked at the man “why?” he questioned and Hosea just gave him a look.</p><p>He used to get that look a lot as a kid, he knew it meant Hosea was losing his patience and so he simply scrambled to his feet and trailed behind the older vampire, glancing back once he was on old boys back to see Dutch standing beside Arthur by the shore.</p><p>Whatever they were talking about Arthur didn’t seem too excited about it, the blonde refusing to meet Dutch’s eyes.</p><p>Old boy followed silver dollar almost on his own accord, snorting in vague annoyance at John's distraction until he rubbed under the horse's mane, finally focusing on the road.</p><p>Hosea turned away from Rhodes, his horse settling into a trot that old boy easily matched, the older was quiet until they were a good few minutes away from camp but he was noticeably annoyed.</p><p>“what's going on between you and Arthur” he finally asked, not looking at John who shrugged “I don’t know, I ain't too sure of anything that’s gone on between us recently” he shifted in the saddle, looked at the fields they were going passed as he collected his thoughts “was tryin ta give him some space,  time to heal and shit but seems like he’s avoiding me now”</p><p>John shifted his jaw, nodding at a few riders that passed them “might of made me avoid em in turn”</p><p>He heard Hosea sigh and looked over to see the man pinching the bridge of his nose “the both of you remind me so much of Dutch and myself, and I’m not sure if that’s a good thing”</p><p>The vampire dropped his hand and sighed, steering silver dollar toward a patch of trees off the road and coming to a stop so he could give John his full attention “did you know Dutch never mated Annabelle?”</p><p>This change of topic stunned John for a moment, he remembered Annabelle, well he kind of remembered her, he couldn’t recall her face but he remembered her smile and her laugh.</p><p>The middle-aged human had taken him under her proverbial wing when he joined the gang, realizing Hosea was waiting for an answer and his mind had wandered he shook his head “no” he answered.</p><p>“it wasn’t that they didn’t want to, Dutch had all of these elaborate plans on how to go about it but it never seemed to be the right time” Hosea frowned and looked at his saddle horn “then she ended up, well, let's just say it was almost a good thing they didn’t or we would have lost Dutch a long time ago”</p><p>John tilted his head hat momentarily allowing sunlight to shine in one of his eyes “what do you mean?” he questioned and Hosea looked at him, blinking a few times before his brows lifted as if he just realized something.</p><p>“the old tale about wolves mate for life is true to some degree, mated pairs often die within a year of each other and those that don’t well” Hosea looked back towards camp “they ain't no better than animals after it, Arthur's father was like that, made him avoid the very idea of finding one himself, its why his situation is so confusing”</p><p>John shifted in his saddle “what are you going on about old man?” he asked, confusion as to why he was even out there making his words short, making Hosea look back at him and something was shining in his eyes almost like mischief.</p><p>“I've got a job for the both of you when we get back to camp” and with that, he turned silver dollar back towards camp “and maybe while you’re gone you can talk to him and figure your crap out”</p><p>John kicked old boy into a trot to catch up with the man “what do I have to figure out?! Hosea?!” silver dollar stayed just ahead of old boy and John groaned in aggravation, knowing the old vampire wouldn’t say anything.</p><p>~</p><p>Trotting back into camp he saw Hosea had hitched his horse and approached Arthur and Dutch with a youthful exuberance that John hadn't seen in him for years, interrupting what might have very well been a heated argument.</p><p>Balu nickered from her grazing spot and trotted over to touch noses with old boy as John remained in the saddle, she was already tacked up so Arthur had been planning to head out again.</p><p>Where John had no idea but then again maybe Arthur didn’t either.</p><p>Shifting in his saddle he looked up to see Arthur approaching, looking annoyed while Hosea and Dutch stood with crossed arms and watched him go, Arthur's face was pinched with annoyance and he wouldn't quite look at John.</p><p>John was looking at him though, watching as he swung up into his saddle and turned Balu away from the camp,  and kicking her into a trot silently and expecting John to follow, which he did, staring at the back of his head.</p><p>He didn’t even pay that much attention to where they were going, trusting old boy to stay on the path “how's the shoulder?” he finally broke the oppressive silence between them and watched as Arthur shifted the appendage.</p><p>“fine” the man grunted and John frowned “Hosea tell you what this job of his was?”</p><p>“yeah” again the man's answer was short and John frowned kicking old boy to trot alongside Balu so he could stare at the side of the werewolf's face “aight, fucks wrong with you?!” he demanded.</p><p>Arthur scowled at him “ain't nothin' wrong with me” he growled out and John narrowed his eyes “ya sure? Cause you’ve been acting odd ever since you got back on your feet”</p><p>“I've been acting odd?” Arthur twisted in his saddle “you’re the one that’s been actin odd, even since ya woke up and decided to disappear you’ve been avoiding me!” John growled at the blonde “I didn’t disappear, I was trying to give you space so you could heal!”</p><p>“well maybe I didn’t want space”</p><p>“and maybe I needed it”</p><p>Arthur's mouth shut with an audible click his angry face becoming guarded and John knew he said the wrong thing “fine” the man snarled and kicked balu into a lope, old boy snorting at the loss of his friend as Arthur pulled ahead “Morgan! hold on a sec!”</p><p>John kicked old boy forward, noticing how they were approaching rodes and this probably wasn’t a good argument to have in an anti-other town “I didn’t mean it like that!” he called at Arthur's back but the wolf was ignoring him.</p><p>“Damn it. Arthur! Let me explain"</p><p>“Ya ain’t gotta explain shit Marston, I get it" the man growled and John kicked old boy faster to catch up with Arthur, only half noticing the wagon pulled over at the side of the road “I don’t think ya do you asshole!”</p><p>Arthur spun in the saddle to glare at him “you been treating me like shit since I came back, then ya change and ya treat me decent and damn near like ya actually like me just ta go back to hatin me on two legs"</p><p>John shook his head and yanked off his hat “ya were yelling at me bout being one thing or the other when it's you that needs to figure yer shit out on whether or not ya fucking hate me!”</p><p>Arthur’s eyes were wide under the brim of his hat, mouth slack and for a moment it felt good to have surprised him, but it didn’t last.</p><p>Heat raced up his side and old boy squealed as the wagon on the side of the road exploded, their horses rearing and bucking both of them off, but John couldn’t hear them over the ringing in his ears.</p><p>Couldn’t feel the impact of his body on the road aside from the burning of his skin.</p><p>Something roared and he squinted his eyes open to see Arthur eyes shining blue as he lept at the Lemoyne raiders that had apparently set up the trap.</p><p>Stupid humans that couldn’t let go of a war long passed. He closed his eyes, vision swimming, and opened them only when someone screamed and something thumped wetly to the ground at his side.</p><p>Survival instincts leaping to the forefront of his mind he rolled away even as his skin burned and lifted his head, one hand on his gun to see Arthur kneeling on a raider's chest.</p><p>The blondes hands and shirt were both stained with red but he didn’t think any of it actually belonged to Arthur, glancing around at the carnage surrounding them he realized he was correct, the raiders laid around them in varying states of death, a few missing their throats, others with crushed skulls.</p><p>John turned wide eyes back to Arthur, listening as he stopped snarling, watched as he pulled his clawed fingers out of the raiders throat, and slowly turned.</p><p>His face was twisted into a scowl, his brow heavily lined and lips parted as if his human mouth couldn’t quite contain the fangs he possessed, his eyes glowed blue, made all the brighter by the afternoon sun and he had blood on his face.</p><p>He looked fucking terrifying to John who was running on the will to survive but he knew the moment he flinched backward when Arthur moved that it was a mistake.</p><p>Watched at Arthur's face, for just a split second was filled with heartbreak and soul-deep anguish before it shuttered closed, a wall falling between them and he turned away, standing and disappearing into the trees that lined one side of the path, disappearing into the forest and leaving John behind.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Chapter 11</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>tw: sex (lousy sex, not my best work)<br/>blood-drinking.<br/>think that's it.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>John stared after Arthur who had disappeared into the trees, mind blank with shock as to what exactly had just happened.</p><p>A snort behind him made him turn, Balu and old boy standing behind him and looking irritated, Balu looking at where her rider had disappeared and that alone made him snap out of it, shaking his head he shoved to his feet, minor injuries on his side stinging as he moved.</p><p>Old boy had a burn on his shoulder and flank, but he didn’t seem to be bothered by them, snorting and dancing in place as John leaped onto his back.</p><p>“let’s go” he kicked the horse into motion toward the trees, trusting Balu to follow.</p><p>He couldn’t track Arthur from atop old boy, his skills were subpar at best, but he needed to get the horses away in case rodes decided to investigate the racket and saw the bodies clearly victim to something not human.</p><p>He rode for a few minutes, following Arthur's trail best he could before dismounting and instructing both horses to stay, Balu snorting in disagreement but settling under the hand he laid on her shoulder.</p><p>Slowly he tracked through the trees, trying to follow Arthur's boot prints but also the scent of blood, difficult given the wind was at his back but he somehow managed, coming to a break in the trees where he spotted Arthur standing, shoulders heaving with each breath.</p><p>“go away John” he wasn’t surprised the werewolf knew it was him, the wind was at his back and he was still bleeding.</p><p>“no” he stepped fully into the clearing and stood his ground “we need to talk” he said, putting steel in his voice, watching as Arthur half turned to look at him, his brows furrowed and lips turned down, “ya said plenty back there”</p><p>Arthur waved a hand at the scene they had left behind “back there where I just got blown up? Where I was running on instinct and you just so happened to be the most dangerous fucking thing present?”</p><p>John reached up and shoved his hands through his hair “ya gotta give me a minute, you know what you are” a low growl cut the air “and now so do you, ya reek of fear” Arthur turned away to start walking again but John bolted forward “I've known what the fuck you are”</p><p>He barely touched Arthur's shoulder before the blonde was spinning around and smacking his hand “don’t fucking touch me, ya ain't got any idea what kind of beast I am” his eyes were glowing again but that was fine, Johns were as well, he could feel them burning in their sockets.</p><p>“I know exactly what ya are, yer an asshole” he shoved Arthur in the chest but he barely moved “ya don’t, you said I was dangerous” Arthur lunged forward, knocking John to the ground and shoving his hand into John's chest, pushing him flat and leaning over him.</p><p>Arthur's teeth were bared, and his eyes glowed “ya got no idea how dangerous I can be” he roared.</p><p>The back of John's mind, in a primitive part that ran purely on instincts, wanted to run, it wanted to find someplace to hide where the beast above him couldn’t follow but another larger part of him just felt indignant and that was the part he listened to.</p><p>He didn’t know what made him do it, what made him reach up and curl his fingers into the man’s shirt and yank, didn’t know what made him press forward in a clash of lips hard enough to bruise.</p><p>Arthur froze, hand clenching in John's shirt before he shoved himself back “don’t do that” he hissed and John glared at him, hands tightening in his shirt enough he could hear the fabric ripping.</p><p>“don’t tell me what to do” he bared his fangs at the wolf before shoving and twisting his hips, flipping Arthur onto his back and straddling him “I know what you are, I know what you can do, and if I was afraid of your dumb ass I wouldn’t of put my life on the line to save you!”</p><p>He was yelling, he knew he was because his throat hurt with it, his words were slurred by the fangs that had dropped from his gums and his eyes were glowing so brightly they reflected in Arthurs.</p><p>“figure your shit out Arthur” he shoved the werewolf’s shoulders to push himself up, intending to raise to his feet and storm off but the hand that grabbed him prevented that, shoving him and pinning him down again to bare his teeth “I ain't the one that’s gotta figure my shit out!”</p><p>They were fighting now, scratching and shoving and punching at each other to get the upper hand “fuck does that mean!” he demanded in anger as he continued to get pinned by the werewolf’s stronger frame until the creature grabbed both his wrists and pinned them to the ground, body settling heavily on top of Johns.</p><p>“do you want me or not?!” Arthur's voice was loud, causing birds to take flight from the trees around them and causing John to freeze and gape at him “what” his voice was quiet in the sudden stillness, but Arthur seemed to have finally hit his limit.</p><p>“I let you bite me, I show you my belly, I seek you out on four legs and you let me but scorn me on two, I submit to you and ya fuckin run away!” the wall was crumbling, John could see all of the anguish in Arthur's eyes, the hurt and the scorn that he felt.</p><p>He saw something else that he didn’t want to think about to “you didn’t let me do shit, I forced you-” Arthur growled, deep in his chest and John closed his mouth “you can't do shit to me unless I let you do it”</p><p>The truth in those words made John lose his breath, something like relief flooding his body as he stared at the angry werewolf above him “tell me, right now” the man snarled “do you want me, or not, I’m done playing games”</p><p>The wolf's hands flexed on John's arms as he stared at Arthur, his mind racing, and his brain warring with itself, slowly everything around them was falling silent and fading away.</p><p>John's nose twitched as he inhaled, smelling the other all around him hearing the hammering of his heart as if it was the blood rushing in his own ears and then he felt something shifting between them.</p><p>He remembered the feeling, remembered the discussion that night so long ago, the focus he had found himself having on Arthur that had been so rudely interrupted.</p><p>There wasn’t anything or anyone to interrupt them out here, some part of his mind humming in approval at the secluded nature of this place they had found themselves in as his chest expanded.</p><p>John felt his body going slack, losing its fight as he opened his mouth to speak “it’s all I want” his voice had dropped, a low rumble instead of its usual rasp, and as he watched Arthur's pupils dilated.</p><p>His nostrils flared and his hands slacked, something like relief slacking his tense expression before he ducked his head, nuzzling at John's throat before kissing the flesh there.</p><p>John leaned his head back, his body acting of its own accord as he hummed, felt Arthur pause before nuzzling closer, and then John yelped when the blonde bit his throat, not breaking the skin but leaving a mark.</p><p>It didn’t really hurt but he doubted the werewolf knew quite what that simple action did to John, the meaning, and the trust behind it for vampires.</p><p>But then again when the werewolf pulled away John thought maybe he did, the heat in the blonde's eyes matching that which the bite had sent pumping through John's blood, joining the heat in his belly from whatever the connection between them had sparked.</p><p>Growling in the back of his throat John lifted his hands, the fingers of one clenching in Arthur's shirt while the other grasped the back of the blonde's neck and he pulled, sealing their mouths together in a kiss that really shouldn’t have felt as good as it did.</p><p>Biting at each other’s lips before shifting away, Arthur pressing his face back into John's throat.</p><p>John wasn’t sure how far this was going to go, he knew how he wanted it to go, knew he liked the heavyweight of the other's body over top of him but he wasn’t sure how far Arthur was willing to go.</p><p>The sudden pressure of a knee between his thighs and a strong hand grabbing his hip and pulling him close answered that question for him.</p><p>He let his head fall back, grinding his suddenly very interested cock against the werewolf’s leg, moaning quietly.</p><p>The sound of ripping fabric met his ears and he glanced down where his other hand gripped the man’s shirt, finding the fabric had finally given up.</p><p>And since it was already torn.</p><p>He removed his hand from Arthur's neck and fisted both hands into the front of the blond's shirt, Arthur leaving John's neck to look down at him in confusion before John yanked.</p><p>The fabric ripped easily under his hands, revealing miles of tanned skin, dusted with honey brown hair that he wanted to run his fingers through but couldn’t as the man was sitting up narrowing his eyes and snarling lowly before reaching out.</p><p>His hand slipped under the neck of John's shirt and pulled, fabric tearing under his strength and it set something on fire in his chest to join the warmth in his belly. Sitting up slightly he laid his lips against Arthur's, fingers digging into wide shoulders and hips lifting against that strong thigh.</p><p>His jeans chafed and it was uncomfortable, both too much and not enough but it felt so very good, some primal part of his brain humming with approval.</p><p>Arthur's hands were gliding over his chest, tracing the lines of his body as John had wanted to do to him but he stopped when John hissed with pain, pulling away to look at the injuries on John's side.</p><p>John knew they weren’t bad, just a few cuts from the shrapnel of the wagon and a couple of burns, but he also knew he’d been lucky, much closer and he probably would have died, or at least lost an arm.</p><p>The werewolf’s eyes traced the injuries before glancing back at him, brow furrowing with concern before he was ducking his head, once again licking at John's injuries making the pain fade into a dull ache.</p><p>Sighing he closed his eyes, humming in appreciation before lifting his hand, tangling his fingers back into the blonde's hair, and pulling him back in for a kiss, lifting his leg between the man’s thighs to give him something to grind against.</p><p>Arthur's quiet moan spoke of his appreciation of it, the two of them slowly starting to grind against each other as the warmth built between them until they pulled away, panting against each other’s mouths before John found the ability to talk again.</p><p>“this job of Hosea’s, it can wait?” he rasped and watched as Arthur opened his eyes, the blue glow faded just enough to let hints of green shine through “it's gonna have to” he replied before sitting back.</p><p>The were’s eyes flicked over his face and his body, taking him in and John knew he had to be a mess, his tangled hair had leaves in it from their wrestling and there was still blood on him from nearly being blow up.</p><p>He was also pretty sure in their scuffling Arthur had punched him in the face as one of his cheeks ached dully, he had to be a sight but Arthur, the afternoon sun was shining through the branches above him, light catching in his hair and making it shine like gold.</p><p>The rustling leaves cast odd shadows over the both of them and honestly, John felt his gut clench, no one should be allowed to look like Arthur did.</p><p>No one should be that beautiful.</p><p>Especially not when they still had blood on their face.</p><p>Reaching up John pushed at the scarlet stain with his thumb, the blood had partly dried but wiped off easily enough, Arthur leaning into the touch before dropping his hands to John's gun belt.</p><p>As he unfastened it, it answered John's earlier thought of how far the older was willing to go.</p><p>Things were a bit of a blur after that, the both of them fighting to get each other naked, tearing at fabric and pushing aside weapons until they were bare, Arthur's fingers slick and pressing between John's legs, teasing at him before pressing inside.</p><p>The stretch burned but John breathed through it, this wasn’t the first time he’d done this after all, and Arthur lowered himself, hovering over John while stretching him, their skin touching and sending sparks through John's mind.</p><p>He moaned as Arthur found that spot inside of him, rubbing his fingers against it and making John shiver before pulling out, nuzzling at John's sweaty throat before something else was pressing against him.</p><p>John had seen Arthur naked more times than he could count, as such he knew the man wasn’t small and spread his legs further, hands reaching up to clench around the werewolf’s shoulders as he slowly started to slip inside.</p><p>It burned but John knew it was going to,  just breathing through it as Arthur slowly sank deeper, moaning when he finally bottomed out. He felt Arthur panting against his throat, warm air puffing against his sweaty skin as he grew still above him.</p><p>“fuck” he hissed, fingers clenching and head leaning back, body shivering because Arthur wouldn’t fucking move.</p><p>But then he was moving, hips thrusting shallow and slow, building a rhythm that made John tremble “fuck!” he said again as Arthur put strength behind his movements, lifting a hand to tangle in his hair and pull him up from John's throat.</p><p>Their lips slid together in a sloppy kiss, tongues tangling before Arthur was pulling away, moaning as John clenched around him before looking down at him the blue glow growing stronger in his eyes again, his teeth just barely beginning to sharpen into points and a low growl leaving his throat.</p><p>The sound made John shiver, warmth pooling in his belly before Arthur was moving, sitting back and hands grasping John's shoulders, pulling him up into his lap.</p><p>The position drove the older deeper, made John shiver and moan, making him sit slightly higher than the blonde who nibbled at his collar bones while flexing his hips, his sharp teeth coming close to piercing John's skin.</p><p>Hissing John tangled his hands into the werewolf’s hair, pulling his face away and bared his teeth, fangs descending from his gums.</p><p>Arthur rumbled in vague approval, hands clenching on John's hips and encouraging him to start rolling them, lifting slightly before settling back down.</p><p>They were both getting close, John could tell from the sweat on Arthur's skin, the beating of his pulse in his throat, and the warmth building in his own body.</p><p>Things were slowly fading away, the trees around them, the earth below them, the sky and sun shining above them, it was all becoming background noise as John found himself focusing solely on the blonde, ducking his head to slide his fangs over his throat, feeling the man shiver as the light scratch of them.</p><p>“can I?” he questioned, wanting nothing more than to sink his fangs in, to taste that whisky sweet copper as his body found its pleasure.</p><p>Arthur grunted but tipped his head to the side “yeah” he rasped, voice tight and it was all John needed.</p><p>Renewing his efforts, he rolled his hips clenching around Arthur's length, and buried his face into his neck, kissing and sucking at his throat as his pleasure grew closer until sinking his fangs into that warm skin.</p><p>The werewolf shivered and they both moaned, blood filling Johns mouth barely a sip before he was pulling away, jaw clenching and body locking up as the warmth raged through his body, orgasm leaving him weak and shivering, muscles twitching as Arthur laid him back down, hands bruising and moaning into John's hair as he chased his own pleasure.</p><p>When his warmth filled John the younger shivered again, humming weakly and grunting when Arthur lowered himself down on top of John.</p><p>They were both breathing hard, the world slowly coming back to itself but it seemed different now, something tugging in John's chest, urging him to rake his fingers through the other's hair, to nuzzle closer to him even though there wasn’t much closer he could get.</p><p>He felt the blonde lift up and opened eyes he hadn’t realized he closed to look at his face, the exerted flush that stained his cheeks and traveled down his chest.</p><p>Arthur cupped the back of John's neck, eyes flicking over his face as if he wasn’t sure quite what to look at before he was bending down, uncaring that John's fangs had yet to recede as they kissed.</p><p>It was chaste as they were both still out of breath and when Arthur pulled away and pulled out he collapsed to lay at John's side, arm still keeping in contact with John and stretching over his waist.</p><p>John hummed as the werewolf nuzzled the side of his throat, body a warm weight against his side as they rested in the sunshine, John nosing at the side of Arthur's head and slowly stroking a hand up and down his spine.</p><p>He wanted to nap, to bask in this peaceful moment where everything finally felt right but there was a question itching at the back of his mind “were mates, ain’t we?” he finally asked and heard Arthur whine quietly, as if he didn’t want to talk about it.</p><p>“of a sort” he rumbled “when me an Hosea rode out earlier, he was talkin about it, bout how Dutch never mated, he implied that you was against it after your old man” Arthur said nothing, wouldn’t even look at him as he slowly put the pieces together.</p><p>Arthur wouldn’t look at him, eyes focused on some distant point “that why it was so hard to stay away from you? How I knew something was wrong when ya didn’t come back?”</p><p>Blue eyes glanced at him and the wolf hummed a confirmation “why didn’t ya say anything” he asked, and Arthur finally looked at him, something broken in his eyes “anyone I ever got close to like that saw me and realized what I was”</p><p>The werewolf pushed himself up into a sitting position, reaching for his discarded satchel and pulling a cigarette from the confines of it, striking a match and lighting it as John looked at his back.</p><p>Pale silver scars marked his skin, looking old but John doubted they would ever truly fade “guess I was waitin for you to do the same” John pushed himself up and stole the cigarette from Arthur's mouth.</p><p>“I’s known what ya is since I met ya 12 years ago” he took a long drag and motioned at the creature, meeting the eyes he tried to keep turned away from him “you’s an idiot”</p><p>Arthur snorted and took the cigarette back which John let him do, instead choosing to turn away and press his back against the others, absorbing some of the heat from his skin.</p><p>Silence fell around them aside from the chittering of creatures in the brush around them, the grass tickled at John's skin but he could ignore it, looking up at the sky through the branches and the leaves.</p><p>“Maybe we're both idiots” Arthur finally admitted and John hummed before his brow furrowed “Hosea knows don’t he?” he questioned and Arthur hummed an affirmative, making John sigh and rub his face “and Dutch?” he asked.</p><p>Arthur snorted “Seein as their mates” John turned his head “no shit?” Arthur glanced over his shoulder with an incredulous expression “the hell you ain't noticed that?” John shrugged, he had noticed it especially recently but he hadn’t wanted to assume anything.</p><p>“Anyway, I think the only one who didn’t know was you” John jabbed his elbow back into Arthur's ribs “well if somebody had said somthin” Arthur chuckled and leaned back slightly against John, making John lean against him in turn and then sigh.</p><p>“We shoulda talked weeks ago” he muttered, and Arthur hummed “ain't neither of us good at talkin” John lifted a shoulder “well, were talkin now” he said before turning around and shoving at the blonde, making his fall back to the ground with a grunt.</p><p>Moving to lay partly over his chest John folded his hands and rested his chin on them “what did ya mean by ‘of a sort’?” Arthur's sigh was so deep that it moved John “just what I said”</p><p>The werewolf lifted a hand to start pulling the leaf’s and twigs from John's hair, making the vampire close his eyes and hum “what we has, it ain't like normal mates” he started slowly, making John open his eyes again even though the werewolf wasn’t looking at him “it’s a pair bond”</p><p>He glanced at John to see if he recognized what that was but when John just blinked he sighed again, he’d been doing a lot of that recently “and ya don’t know what that is” he reached up and rubbed his eyes.</p><p>“ain't my fault I didn’t have werewolf lessons” John scowled but was distracted when the wolf tugged his hair “calm down, it ain't just a wolf thing” Arthur huffed and folded the hand not in Johns hair behind his head.</p><p>Getting comfortable, telling John this would probably be a long explanation.</p><p>Why did he ask?</p><p>“my ma was human” that wasn’t how John expected him to start “don't remember much about her, I was young when she passed but she and my pa had a pair bond, it's like bein mates but” Arthur trailed off and frowned, brows furrowing “ma said it was more than that, ran deeper”</p><p>John tilted his head slightly, listening closely as Arthur didn’t often talk about his mother “only happens when your true mate wasn’t a were” he shrugged stiffly, silver scar tissue bunching slightly.</p><p>John could almost feel the ache in his own shoulder.</p><p>“so, it's like them books Mary-Beth reads all the time” Arthur nodded “close enough” he muttered before pausing and glancing down at John “how you know what she reads?” John looked at the others lifted brow and smirking lips and shoved at him.</p><p>“she talks bout em all the time” Arthur laughed, an actual laugh and it gave John pause as he couldn’t remember the last time the other had laughed like that and he liked the sound of it.</p><p>Even if it was at his expense.</p><p>“Lil Johnny Marston, knew ya was a romantic at heart” John shoved at him again using the move to push himself into a sitting position and look away “shuddup” he muttered looking away.</p><p>Arthur smirked up at him “or what?” he challenged and John looked down at him, eyes skirting along the long lines of him, stretched out in the grass with the canopy casting intricate shadows across his body, head resting on one arm while the other was stretched out and resting against John's hip.</p><p>He looked relaxed in a way John hadn’t seen in years, loose-limbed and soft, John paused and his lips curled, mostly soft.</p><p>Leaning over the older he propped himself up on one arm his other hand laying on the wolfs belly and scratching lightly at the hair there “or” he drawled, focusing on the others eyes “I’ll make you”</p><p>He lowered his hand, closing it around Arthur's cock and the werewolf's entire body twitched, inhaling sharply, and staring at John until his lips curled into a wicked smirk and he was turning.</p><p>John hit the ground with a grunt, Arthur pressing his back down to the earth and boxing him in with his arms, keeping him pinned with his weight before kissing him hard, leaving him breathless when he pulled away.</p><p>He looked up into Arthur's eyes and saw them glimmering with mischief before he spoke.</p><p>“make me”</p><p>Well.</p><p>John was never one to turn down a challenge.</p><p> </p><p>~</p><p> </p><p>By the time they finally pitched camp the sun was well on its way to setting, Arthur slightly shaky from bloodloss while John felt full and sleepy.</p><p>After they had settled down he finally took notice of where they were, something he probably should have considered before having some of the best sex of his life.</p><p>They were around ringneck creek, a shallow body of water that they had washed up in a while ago, and well away from Rhodes. They were actually in the complete opposite direction of the town which John was fine with, stretched out on his bedroll by the fire, wearing only the spare pants he’d had in his saddlebags.</p><p>Arthur wasn’t wearing anything at all but then again he had shifted, his thick fur soft under Johns head and hand, absently petting at the slowly breathing wolfs side “the hell was it Hosea had us doin anyway?” he finally asked and the wolf snorted, tail flicking across the grass.</p><p>“got a lead on a new book. Wanted us ta go fetch it” John rolled his eyes “so, bullshit” Arthur hummed a confirmation and John sighed “it wasn’t all bullshit” he eventually said before lifting his head and nudging the side of John's head with his nose making him laugh and reach up digging his fingers into the fur between his ears.</p><p>The wolf groaned like Cain when John scratched the perfect spot and it made John smile.</p><p>“ya soft bastard” he said fondly and Arthur snorted, lips tugging into a wolfish smile before he was laying his massive head onto John's chest.</p><p>It was a peaceful moment but not one that would last, they might have figured their own shit out for the most part but there was still so much unknown about the gang, so much trouble dogging their every move.</p><p>When they returned to camp John would have to talk to Mac about a lead he had with a stagecoach and Arthur would have to meet up with Sean Bill and Micah in town, something about a meeting with the greys.</p><p>They didn’t know what the future was going to bring but at this moment.</p><p>With Arthur's head heavy on his chest.</p><p>Everything was perfect.</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>